After more than four decades at the helm of central Ohio’s largest hunger-relief organization, Mid-Ohio Food Collective President and CEO Matt Habash says his long run is coming to an end. Habash announced Thursday that he will retire at the end of the year after a 42-year stretch leading the agency, staying on through a leadership transition while the board launches a national search for the next chief. His exit comes as the collective is in full expansion mode, growing its markets, farm programs and a new health hub in southeast Columbus.
In a recorded statement, Habash thanked staff and neighbors and underscored the mission that has defined his tenure. “No one should ever go hungry in a community as strong as ours,” he said, according to WOSU Public Media. Habash first stepped into the executive director role in 1984, when the agency moved roughly 3 million pounds of groceries a year. By 2025, the collective was distributing more than 73 million pounds across 20 counties. The same report notes that the board has brought in a national firm to run the search for his successor.
Board taps national search firm
The board has hired Kittleman & Associates to conduct a comprehensive, retained national search for the next CEO, a process that is expected to stretch over several months. Kittleman focuses on nonprofit executive recruiting and lists offices in Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and Boston, according to Kittleman & Associates. Searches of this scope typically involve deep candidate research, interviews with key stakeholders and multiple rounds of vetting before finalists ever meet the full board.
A record of growth and a changing hunger landscape
Under Habash, the organization evolved from a regional foodbank into a multi-asset collective that now operates farms, a kitchen and no-cost Mid-Ohio Markets, while partnering with more than 600 agencies. One of its latest projects is the transformation of a former Kroger on Refugee Road into the Eastland Prosperity Center at 4485 Refugee Road, a 67,000-square-foot hub that will combine a free market with health services, according to Mid-Ohio Food Collective. The buildout is intended to bolster fresh-food access at a time when smaller pantries around central Ohio report tighter donations and rising costs.
What comes next
Habash will stay on to steer Mid-Ohio Food Collective through the search and leadership transition and is expected to step down at the end of 2026; he will turn 70 this September, according to WOSU Public Media. In the coming months, the board and its search firm will solicit nominations, review applications and interview candidates while MOFC continues its day-to-day work feeding hundreds of thousands of neighbors each year.
