CEO of Goodwill Sacramento resigns, one of multiple leadership changes at nonprofit branch
Ken Gosney, the CEO of Goodwill Industries of Sacramento Valley and Northern Nevada, has resigned as the nonprofit begins to “restructure” its executive team, the interim CEO stated this week.
Gosney formally stepped down from the Sacramento region’s Goodwill branch in December. He served as the nonprofit’s CEO since January 2022, and was previously the CEO of Goodwill Industries of the Columbia in Washington state for seven years.
Bryan Wagner, who served as chief financial officer before replacing Gosney as CEO on a temporary basis, said he could not share specifics about the resignation.
“As part of our efforts to strengthen the organization and ensure long-term success, we’ve made some changes to the executive team,” Wagner said in a statement. “Regarding plans to replace these positions and the permanent CEO role, there is a strategy in place, and I’ll be able to share more details later this month.”
Upon Wagner’s transition into the interim CEO role, Goodwill Sacramento Valley and Northern Nevada got rid of two other positions — local chief operating officer and vice president of retail, according to the Sacramento Business Journal, which on Thursday first reported Gosney’s resignation.
Gosney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gosney replaced former CEO Richard Alan Abrusci, who faces allegations of embezzlement and fraud in the form of a December 2023 grand jury indictment, followed by a superseding 16-count indictment in April. In those indictments he was accused of taking $1.4 million “from a non-profit organization that operates a chain of retail stores in California and Nevada,” according to federal prosecutors.
Abrusci was the nonprofit’s president since 2018 and was formally terminated by its board of directors in July 2021 after an audit of Goodwill’s finances showed a misappropriation of funds. His federal criminal case is still ongoing following the indictment, with the next court date scheduled for February.
