CEO Melissa Sobolik to leave Great Plains Food Bank
May 19—FARGO — The Great Plains Food Bank is starting a search for a new leader as CEO Melissa Sobolik announced she will be leaving the organization in July.
In an email Monday, May 19, Sobolik announced she will be leaving the Great Plains Food Bank to be the CEO of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank in Providence. Sobolik's final day at the Great Plains Food Bank will be Friday, July 11.
The Great Plains Food Bank is North Dakota's only food bank. It serves a network of 196 partners, like food pantries and shelters, in 100 communities across North Dakota and Clay County, Minnesota.
In the email, Sobolik reflected on her work at the food bank.
"Serving as the CEO and working at the Great Plains Food Bank for the past 18 years has been the honor of my life," she wrote. "I am immensely proud of the work we have done together to end hunger and nourish hope across North Dakota and beyond."
Sobolik started at the Great Plains Food Bank in 2007, working with food bank members. In 2016, she started its Ending Hunger 2.0 program, which focuses on hunger prevention. She served as the president of the organization from 2019 to 2021, when she was
named CEO.
Sobolik is the organization's second CEO.
Sobolik told The Forum she was not looking for a new job, but was approached about the opportunity at the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.
"When I actually went out to Providence, I fell in love with the community, and really saw it as the next professional growth opportunity for myself," she said.
Great Plains Food Bank Board of Directors Chair Jasper Schneider said Sobolik helped the stature of the organization and increased its reach. In the past five years, the food bank expanded to tribal areas in North Dakota and has increased the amount of food distributed to communities.
"This has all been done in the backdrop of a pretty complicated last five years, right, when you look at a worldwide pandemic, global inflation, supply chain issues, workforce challenges," Schneider said. "Under Melissa's leadership, she's persevered through all of that."
Sobolik said the most rewarding part of the job has been helping people.
"Some of my proudest moments are getting to see the faces and the smiles of the people that you get to help, and hearing their stories and hearing them say 'thank you,' " she said.
Another highlight of the job was a recent
$5 million appropriation from the North Dakota Legislature,
the largest financial gift in the food bank's history, Sobolik said.
Great Plains Food Bank Chief Operating Officer Kate Molbert will serve as interim CEO as the nonprofit's board of directors searches for a new CEO, the email said.
Sobolik is confident in her team's ability to continue working through the transition.
"One of the things I've prided myself on is hiring people smarter than me, and so there's an amazing team to step in and do this job without me and keep the organization running and keeping people fed," she said.
Schneider said the board plans to conduct a nationwide search for its next leader and is evaluating different firms to help guide that search.
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