PARIS – Charleen Chase, the executive director of Community Concepts Inc. for 27 years, is stepping down from her post as of Jan. 1.

Executive Administrator and Chief Financial Officer Matthew Smith, who has been part of Chase’s executive team for 23 years, will succeed Chase in the top role.

Chase will stay on until March, then take a leave of absence and vacation time before returning to work half-time in the fall. She’ll be heading up a new leadership network to teach best practices to other nonprofits in Maine and throughout New England.

“It’s a real win-win situation,” said agency spokesperson Mary Ellen Therriault. “We’re so delighted not to be losing her. She has so much experience and skills to share.”

Chase said she has worked closely with Smith for 23 years, and is confident he will continue to uphold “the longstanding principles that contribute to who we are” as the state-designated community action agency for Oxford and Androscoggin counties.

“Matthew will continue the longstanding principles that contribute to Community Concepts’ success and recognition as an exceptional agency,” said Mary Ann Brown, president of the board of directors, in a press release. She said the agency is strongly committed to internal leadership development, and is confident that there will be a smooth transition process.

Chase, a Norway resident, is leaving the executive director’s post in order to have more time for her family and personal life and have less responsibility, she said.

She began at age 25 working for the agency’s Head Start program. Four years later, when she was named executive director, the agency had 35 employees.

It now has 435 employees and a budget of $34 million.

“I’ve been executive director for all but four years of my 31 years here, and it feels to me that it’s long enough to have that much responsibility,” Chase said. She said she wants to spend more time with her 85-year-old father, and a brother who has special needs.

Being executive director is “a 24-7 job,” she said. “It’s been very hard for me to find a balance.”

Chase said Community Concepts has been successful because of its emphasis on planning and training, and the use of progressive leadership practices.

“When we deliver a program we’ve always met or exceeded the goals of the contract,” she said. The agency served about 26,500 people in 2004; the value of those services was $28,921,364.

Community Concepts provides more than 30 programs in housing, transportation and family assistance, and has offices in Auburn, Farmington, Rumford and South Paris, and Head Start program sites in seven communities.

“We’re quite a complex organization,” Chase said. “Our funding comes from a variety of sources, all with their own rules and regulations.”

Chase has been honored over the years for her community leadership. She received the 2000 Community Service Award from the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce and the 2003 Maine Women in Public Life Award from the Muskie School of Public Service.

She also has served on the board of directors for Central Maine Power, the Growth Council of Oxford Hills and on an advisory board to the Maine State Housing Authority.

Smith holds a master of science degree in community economic development from Southern New Hampshire College. He is active on both the state and national level in collaboration with other nonprofits in developing creative solutions to problems facing low- and moderate-income families.