The Stanley Cup, the NHL’s championship trophy, is unique among sports trophies in American professional sports. In other sports, a new trophy is commissioned each year and awarded to a single team, which gets to keep it; but the Stanley Cup belongs to the entire NHL community. It is a repository of hockey history: Each year, the names of the winning team’s players, coaches and staff are engraved on a silver band alongside those of previous championship teams. When a band is filled, an older one is removed and taken to the Hockey Hall of Fame for preservation and a new one is added, linking generation to generation. During the year in which a championship team holds the Cup, each member of the team gets a day with it, emphasizing both the individual and collective effort that contributed to the victory. 

The Stanley Cup is iconic and recognized worldwide, but less well-known is the role of the “Keeper of the Cup,” the person whose full-time responsibility is to safeguard and escort the trophy from place to place; to maintain it — protecting, cleaning and repairing it to ensure it is always looking its best; and to preserve its tradition, sharing stories and knowledge about the history of hockey and the significance of the Cup.

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This also describes the role of an interim executive director.

Interim leadership is often misunderstood as a stopgap position, serving as a placeholder until a permanent selection is made. However, when used correctly, an interim executive director is the Keeper of the Cup, charged with escorting the organization from its past to its future. I learned this firsthand as the interim director at a campus Hillel. 

Leading a campus Hillel, like leading most organizations, is much more than running a set of programs. Throughout an executive director’s tenure, they build a network of relationships: with university partners, with the governing board, with parents of students living away from home for the first time, with alumni for whom Hillel was a meaningful part of their college experience, with the staff of the Hillel — and, of course, with students, who depend on a consistent, welcoming environment. During a leadership transition, an interim executive director serves as a steward, safeguarding the organization’s relationships, maintaining its programming and preserving its tradition. Like the Keeper of the Cup, the interim executive director closely guards the institution’s legacy, preparing it for the new leadership during a time of transition. 

A successful interim director understands that this role of stewardship is not about maintaining the status quo. In hockey, the Keeper of the Cup does not merely guard and accompany the Stanley Cup. Between winners, they protect it, polish it, identify and fix dents or scratches, all to ensure the Cup is ready for the next team — the next generation of leaders — to lift proudly.

Like the Cup, organizations accumulate minor (or even major) dings and scratches over time: outdated systems, unclear roles, strained team dynamics, unresolved conflicts or neglected infrastructure. These issues rarely emerge all at once; they build gradually, often unnoticed when an organization is busy or stretched thin. A transition is an opportunity to magnify and spotlight these issues through a fresh pair of eyes. The interim executive director is uniquely positioned to address these challenges — not by radically redesigning the organization, but by fixing what can be repaired, stabilizing what needs attention and bringing attention to the organization’s future needs. It is careful work, often not visible to the public, and yet essential.

During leadership transitions, organizations are especially fragile. At a Hillel, the staff may feel anxious, students may be uncertain and stakeholders may be wary. Guarding legacy does not mean resisting change or clinging to nostalgia. It is about identifying the values, relationships, trust and purpose that must be maintained to sustain the organization’s strengths while paving the way for the forthcoming changes.

When interim leadership is taken seriously — when it is resourced, respected and empowered — it becomes a strategic investment, not a stopgap. It positions an organization not just to survive transition but to grow through it.

The key to a successful interim leader is knowing they are not polishing the organization for personal credit, preparing it for their own long-term tenure or seeking a promotion or a raise. This allows them to focus solely on the institution’s needs and prepare it for the next leader. Just as the Keeper of the Cup understands that they don’t own the trophy but are responsible for its well-being, an interim director’s success is measured by ensuring the organization is healthier, clearer and more resilient when the new leader takes the helm.

At the end of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, when the Cup is lifted high, gleaming under bright lights, few people think about the person who cleaned it, repaired it and protected it along the way. But the impact of their work is evident in the shine, the intact history and the Cup’s readiness to be celebrated once more. Interim leaders rarely have their names engraved on the institutions they serve. Their success and impact is preparing the organization for its next phase of life, knowing it is stronger, more aligned and better able to face whatever challenges lie ahead.

Abbey Frank is the principal and co-founder of Frank Strategies, a strategic planning, project management and communications consulting firm. She has held various leadership positions in the nonprofit, government and philanthropic sectors and most recently served as the interim director of GW Hillel in the fall of 2025.