Ron Phillips, founder of Coastal Enterprises (CEI) in Wiscasset, will be retiring as its chief executive officer around July 1, 2016. After nearly four decades, it’s time for the nonprofit’s next generation of employees to take over, and for him to spend more time with family and friends, Phillips, 72, of Waldoboro said June 4.

“I’ll have been doing this going on 40 years .... There are a thousand things that have not been done (relating to) family, and apart from working at an organization, so I’m thrilled to be entering another phase of my life,” the grandfather and Massachusetts native said.

Announcing his departure more than a year in advance gives CEI time to prepare, Phillips said. And he believes he is stepping down at the right time.

“We’ve got a really great set of next-generation employees ... to step up and take over, and keep building the sort of organization that we’ve set out to do,” he said.

CEI’s upcoming move to a new headquarters in Brunswick also represents a new chapter for the organization, so the timing makes sense from that standpoint, also, Phillips said.

The move, announced in 2013, is planned for October, CEI spokeswoman Liz Rogers said June 4. Plans still call for some staff to stay on in Wiscasset serving clients in the area, Rogers said. A number was not yet known.

A letter from Ellen Seidman, chairman of CEI’s board, informed investors and others in early May about Phillips’ plans to step down, CEI officials said.

“Needless to say, the board and staff of CEI have mixed views on this announcement,” Seidman writes. “Ron has devoted a major part of his life to CEI, and to developing and enhancing strategies for investment in people and places at the margins of society in Maine and throughout rural America.

“Building on roots in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Ron has been a critical part of the national networks that helped set the stage for today’s Community Development Corporations and ... Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). All these organizations, and the movement as a whole, owe a huge debt of gratitude to the creativity and fortitude with which Ron has pursued policies to enhance their ability to serve their communities.”

Everyone at CEI shares Phillips’ commitment to the organization’s mission, the letter continues. “All of us ... support Ron in his decision to spend more time with his family, and on other pursuits related to social, economic and environmental justice here and internationally.”

A search for the organization’s next leader will get under way in the coming months, according to the letter. Betsy Biemann, vice chairman of CEI’s board of directors, is chairing a transition committee, it states.

“Finding a leader who can build upon what Ron and his team have accomplished and ensuring a smooth transition is a priority for CEI’s board ... in the coming year,” Seidman writes.

In the June 4 interview, Phillips said that, after he steps down next year, he plans to continue to help CEI as a volunteer. He will also work on his own to promote the same types of investments as CEI’s, ones that create jobs while supporting the environment and communities’ socio-economic interests. He will not be taking a position at another organization.

“Heaven, no,” he said.

On May 20 in Washington, D.C., the advisory board of the federal Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund honored Phillips and lamented his plans to step down as CEI’s CEO.

A CEI press release states that the fund’s director Annie Donovan said she couldn’t imagine the community development sector without Phillips. “So this is going to be a hard transition. He has been an incredible, amazing leader.

“He is inspirational to all of us. And the one thing I have appreciated about Ron over all these many years is (that his) commitment to social justice is through and through .... And so (he is) going to be well missed.”