Lead21 claims it grew to several hundred members in its first few years after its founding, with no budget or staff. In 2004, Lead21 hired Sally Dorfman as a paid, part-time staffer to coordinate its increasingly routine events and bookkeeping. It was not until February 2006 that it hired its first full-time director, Daniel Trimble, who with the Board and Program Manager, Candace d'Holbach, led the organization through its most explosive growth in terms of membership and revenue. Trimble resigned in April 2007.