Champion profile: Metta and Keith Krach

This year, at its annual gala event, City Year San José/Silicon Valley honored two outstanding Champions—Metta and Keith Krach—naming them recipients of the 2018 City Year Citizen Leadership Award. It’s the first time City Year San José has honored a couple with this award, but it’s fitting for this power couple who share a dedication to transformational leadership, a commitment to paying it forward and the mission of having an impact on young lives.

“I have such great admiration for Metta and Keith Krach,” said Michael Brown, CEO and co-founder of City Year. “Metta’s love for helping children and communities, combined with Keith’s passion for leadership and mentoring, generates a powerful force for civic impact in the Bay Area and beyond.”

A common vision

“Keith and I share a common vision of the world and a deep need to help where we can,” said Metta Krach. “We tell our five children, it is all about making a difference—a big difference, a small difference, but most importantly, a meaningful difference. This is how we want to raise our children, with a deep spirit of generosity and gratitude.”

Metta and Keith began their involvement with City Year in 2016, when they were introduced to the organization at an event in Silicon Valley. They were immediately captivated by City Year’s mission, leadership and philosophy.

Keith Krach is inspired by the City Year example of youth in service. “Michael, and City Year, are doing a marvelous thing, by instilling in others a notion of the importance of civic duty and civic leadership,” said Krach. He believes that the U.S. could do well to take inspiration from countries that require a year of service from their youth, encouraging our own next generation to serve in some capacity, whether it’s in the military or through a domestic program like City Year, which is part of the AmeriCorps national service network.

In the spring of 2018, Krach invited Michael Brown to serve on the DocuSign IMPACT Foundation’s board of advisors. Krach then introduced Brown and City Year to the whole “DocuFamily” at DocuSign’s Momentum conference, helping to support their mentorship mission with a 2-for-1 matching of employee donations, product contributions and a “Hack-For-Good” hackathon to streamline City Year donations and operations.

Transformational leadership and paying it forward

According to Krach, “Michael’s creation, City Year, helps develop future transformational leaders through mentorship. Because transformational leadership is as much about transforming the person as it is about transforming the world. And mentorship is the most effective way to learn how to become a transformational leader.”

Keith and Metta Krach’s own track record of transformational leadership is well known—both in business and in their work to “pay it forward” through philanthropy, education, and mentorship.

“After 20 years of friendship, I know Keith understands the most effective way to develop great transformational leaders is through the power of mentorship,” said John Chambers, former CEO of Cisco and past recipient of the City Year Citizen Leadership Award in 2014. “Metta and Keith are true believers not only in City Year’s noble cause but also in their pay it forward model.”

“Metta and Keith are leaders of consequence. It’s my honor to congratulate this dynamic duo making a profound impact on people’s lives,” said Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP and recipient of the award in 2015.

“Metta and Keith make a strong team with a shared passion for supporting all causes related to education,” said John Thompson, chairman of Microsoft and 2016 honoree.

Generous gifts from the Krach Family Foundation support the work of City Year San José/Silicon Valley and nationwide. Keith and Metta’s other philanthropic endeavors include Keith’s work as founder and chairman of the DocuSign Impact Foundation, chairman of the New Story Advisory Board, chairman of the Purdue University Board of Trustees, international president of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, Board of Governors of Opportunity International, and founding gift for the Children’s Autistic Network.

Metta serves on the boards and executive committees for the San Francisco Symphony and Bay Area Discovery Museum, as well as serving on the board for her alma mater, Georgetown Law School.

Keith also recently founded the Virtual Mentor Network, whose mission is to develop transformational leaders at scale through video-based virtual mentoring. And both Keith and Metta have mentored scores of young leaders throughout their lives and careers.

Keith and Metta believe that a variety of pressing social factors are driving an urgent need for more transformational leaders, from the accelerating rate of change in society to the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of our problems, which increase our need for leaders who can tap into the power of diverse teams for solutions. The Krachs believe that transformational leadership is for anyone with an honorable mission who wants to make a significant impact???because everyone has a noble cause burning within them.

To learn more about Keith and Metta and their $1 million gift to City Year, click on the following links:

Press release: Metta and Keith Krach to Receive 2018 Citizen Leadership Award

Press coverage: A Triumph of Transformational Leadership in the Social Sector: Metta and Keith Krach Honored with Citizen Leadership Award