Twincrest headquarters — a modern glass office building
Day 12 of transition

A letter to Twincrest

Welcoming Alex Chen as our new CEO.

After twelve years, Pat is stepping down. Here's everything we know, everything you've asked, and everything we're doing about it.

Portrait of Alex Chen, incoming CEO of Twincrest
Alex ChenIncoming CEO

Chapter 01 · The announcement

What we said this morning, in full.

Twelve years ago, Pat Morgan walked into a forty-person company and asked us to do something audacious. We did it, mostly, and then we did some other things — and somewhere along the way Twincrest became the company you know now. Today, Pat is announcing that he'll step down as CEO in sixty days. Alex Chen will succeed him.

Pat has been planning this transition for over a year. It's not a reaction to anything. It's the thing he and the board have been working toward — a handover done from a position of strength, with enough runway for the next person to listen before they lead.

Alex joins after a nine-month search. She's spent the last eight years at Vellum as President, and before that at companies you've heard of and at one you definitely haven't. She'll spend her first sixty days listening — to teams, to customers, to Pat — before sharing anything that looks like a plan.

There are no layoffs attached to this. Remote-first stays. Compensation cycles are unchanged. The roadmap you're working against this quarter is the roadmap. If any of that changes later, you'll hear about it here, in writing, before it becomes a rumor.

We built this site because the next forty-eight hours matter. You'll have questions we haven't answered. Ask them. We'll publish what we know, admit what we don't, and update this page as the picture sharpens.

I leave knowing this place is in better shape than I found it — and that Alex will take it somewhere I couldn't have.
Pat Morgan, outgoing CEO · Twelve years

Chapter 02 · Meet Alex

She's not the CEO yet. She's the person about to be.

Alex Chen laughing at a desk in a sunlit room
Alex at home, the morning after the offer came through. Photo by Mei Lin for Twincrest.

Alex was nineteen the first time she ran a team. It went badly. She still talks about it — about how she over-promised a delivery to a client her boss had warned her about, then watched four people she liked work two weekends to save her from herself. She remembers their names.

The next twenty-eight years went a little better. Engineer, then engineering manager, then a stretch at a hardware company you've definitely heard of, then eight years at Vellum, the last four of them as President. Vellum tripled in revenue under her, opened three regional offices, and — by her own quiet admission — got better at saying no.

What she's building toward at Twincrest, she'll tell you in her own time. What we can tell you now is that she asked, in her second board interview, whether she'd be allowed to spend the first two months not deciding anything. The answer was yes. That's the job she's taking.

She'll be in the New York office her first week. Then Seattle. Then everywhere else over the next sixty days, in person where she can be, on video where she can't.

I'm not coming in with a plan. I'm coming in with questions.

Alex Chen · Day 1 video, 0:42

Quick facts

The kind of stuff you'd find out at a coffee.

Where she grew up

A small town outside Seattle

Pacific Northwest forest and mountains near Seattle

Family

Married, two kids, one large dog

A large dog resting on a couch at home

On her nightstand

Range by David Epstein

An open book on a bedside table

Coffee or tea

Both, in that order

A warm cup of coffee on a wooden table

First job

Selling cherries at her grandparents' farm stand

Fresh cherries at a roadside farm stand

Worst advice she ever took

“Don't switch jobs in your twenties.”

A person at a crossroads writing in a notebook

In her own words

Three quotes, three sources, no edits.

"The thing I want to protect first is the way you talk to each other. Tone is strategy."
Day 1 video · 3:18
"If you tell me a thing is hard and I make it harder, that's on me. Tell me anyway."
All-hands Q&A · 14:02
"I won't be good at all of this on day one. I plan to be honest about which parts."
Board interview transcript

Chapter 03 · The next 180 days

Here's how this unfolds.

Six phases over six months. Dates are targets, not promises. We'll move the line when the line needs to move, and we'll say so.

  1. Announcement

    Day 0

    Public announcement, all-hands, microsite launch.

    Done
  2. Handover

    Day 0 → ~30

    Pat transitions context. Alex listens.

    In progress
  3. Listening tour

    Day 1 → 60

    Skip-levels, town halls, written feedback, 1:1s.

    In progress
  4. Read-out

    ~Day 60-90

    Alex shares what she heard, themes, decisions.

    Upcoming
  5. 100-day plan

    ~Day 90

    Public plan with priorities and how we'll measure them.

    Upcoming
  6. Steady state

    Day 180+

    Site transitions to regular operating cadence.

    Upcoming

Chapter 04 · In her own voice

Three videos. No prepared statements.

Alex's first message
Day 1

Alex's first message

Filmed the morning of the announcement. Not a prepared statement — Alex sat down, hit record, and talked.

8:42

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 2:14 Remote-first
  • 4:30 Q&A
Day 30 check-inComing up

Day 30 check-in

Recording around June 14. What Alex has heard in the first month.

Coming up

Office hours · Week 2Office hours

Office hours · Week 2

Live Q&A, unedited. The recording starts at the first question.

0:00 Open · 3:20 Remote · 21:40 Layoffs · 38:05 Strategy

All-hands recordingAll-hands

All-hands recording

Pat and Alex on stage together. Pat introduces. Alex listens, then speaks.

0:00 Pat opens · 8:55 Alex · 19:30 Q&A

Chapter 05 · What you're asking

The questions, answered plainly.

Is my job safe?

Yes. Alex has been clear with the board and with us that this transition is about strategy, not headcount. There are no planned layoffs tied to this change. If that ever changes, you'll hear it here first — not through rumor.

Why now? Pat seemed to be doing fine.

Pat has been planning this transition for over a year. He wanted to leave when the company was strong, not when it was struggling. Alex was the board's choice after a nine-month search.

What's Alex's first priority going to be?

Listening. For the first sixty days, Alex won't be making major strategic changes. She'll be meeting people, learning the business, and reading everything you send her. The hundred-day plan comes after, not before.

Will our remote-first policy change?

No. Alex addressed this directly in her day-one video: remote-first stays. The written all-hands note that followed says the same thing. If anything about how we work changes later, it'll be a conversation, not a memo.

How will I get to talk to Alex?

Three ways, starting this month. Office hours every other Friday (sign-up opens here). Skip-level coffees with rotating teams. And a written inbox that Alex reads herself — not a screened one.

What happens to the projects Pat was sponsoring?

Everything funded for this fiscal year stays funded. Alex is reviewing the multi-year roadmap as part of her listening tour and will share what she's keeping, pausing, and rethinking in the read-out around day 60.

Browse all 47 questions →

Chapter 06 · What you've told us

You said. We heard. We did.

Forty-seven pieces of feedback in twelve days. Here's how we're closing the loop.

Item 01Done

You said

"I'm worried this means our remote-first policy is going away."

We heard

Alex addressed this in her day-1 video at 2:14. “Remote-first stays. Full stop.”

We did

Added a permanent FAQ entry. Asked Alex to confirm in writing to all-hands.

4 days ago·Ways of working
Item 02Done

You said

"Can we get more frequent updates? Weekly feels too slow when this much is changing."

We heard

Fair. We were defaulting to weekly because we didn't want to spam you, but the feedback is clear.

We did

Moving to twice-weekly updates for the first sixty days, then reassessing.

1 day ago·Communication
Item 03In progress

You said

"Will Alex actually meet people outside HQ, or just the leadership team?"

We heard

You're right to push on this. The default would have been a few stops in the biggest offices.

We did

Rebuilt the listening tour to cover every regional office over the first 60 days. Schedule posted by Friday.

today·Access

Have something to say? We're listening.

Anonymous by default. Read every Monday and Thursday.

Share feedback

Chapter 07 · When you need more

Tools, talking points, and people.