New CEO Promoted at the Energy Foundation (Transitions)

Energy Foundation

Jason Mark, senior vice president for U.S. programs at the $77 million clean-energy grant maker, has been promoted to CEO. He joined the foundation in 2007.

Alliance for a Healthier Generation

Kathy Higgins, president and CEO of the Blue Cross N.C. Foundation, has been selected to serve as CEO. She succeeds Howell Wechsler, who retired in October after five years at the helm of this organization founded in 2005 by the American Heart Association and the Clinton Foundation.

BOMA Project

Wendy Chamberlin has become director of expansion and innovation at this American nonprofit, which works closely with a nonprofit organization in Kenya. Most recently, she was the associate program officer for financial services for the poor at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Elizabeth Dole Foundation

Steve Schwab has been promoted from executive director to CEO of this charity, which was established in 2012 to study and provide support for military families and caregivers for veterans.

More New CEOs

Paula Heitman, executive director of Families First, has been named executive director of Marquis Studios, an arts and education charity in New York.

Theresa Jackson, director of learning and knowledge management at the Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, has been hired as manager of the Seybert Foundation. She succeeds Diana Loukedis Doherty, who is stepping down after eight years.

Karae Lisle, interim CEO of My Digital TAT2, has become executive director of the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Laurie McCormack, senior vice president for individual giving at United Way of Greater Kansas City, is now executive director of AdventHealth Foundation Shawnee Mission.

Cheryl Mendelson has been appointed CEO of the Van Wezel Foundation. Most recently she was vice president for institutional advancement and chief marketing officer at the Erikson Institute.

Sean O’Harrow, director of the Honolulu Museum of Art, has been tapped as executive director of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, in Kansas City, Mo.

Trinity Church Wall Street

The New York charity has hired two senior leaders for its Grants and Mission Investing team:

Susan Shah, director of programs and strategy at the Vera Institute of Justice, has joined as managing director of racial justice.

Beatriz de la Torre is now managing director of housing and homelessness after serving as managing director of housing and homelessness for Robin Hood.

Other Notable Appointments

Melissa Boteach has become vice president for income security and child care and early learning at the National Women’s Law Center. Previously, she founded and led the Poverty to Prosperity program at the Center for American Progress.

Karen Chance Mercurius, director of alumni relations at Harvard Law School, has been appointed associate vice president for alumni relations and constituent engagement at the University of Rochester.

Dee Dee Mozeleski, who has spent two years as interim executive director of the Combined Foundations at City College of New York, has been appointed to the role permanently.

Mary O’Donnell, senior program officer at the Retirement Research Foundation since 2013, has been promoted to vice president.

Elena Quevedo, senior vice president for advancement at the New Jewish Home, has joined the Miami City Ballet as chief development officer.

Julie Rosen, executive director of the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, will serve as practice leader and consultant for Witt/Kieffer’s Not-for-Profit Practice team.

Christopher Thompson, vice president for product marketing at communications at Plantronics, has joined the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation as its San Jose program director.

Departures

Lande Ajose, executive director of California Competes, will now serve as senior adviser on higher education for Governor Gavin Newsom of California.

Louis Beccaria, CEO of the Phoenixville Community Health Foundation, plans to retire this year after 21 years at the helm.

Steve Gilliland, the first CEO of the Harrison County Community Foundation, will retire next year after serving in the top role since 1999. The Indiana foundation’s assets have grown from $5 million to $207 million during his tenure.

E.J. Jacobs, program director at the Nduna Foundation, has stepped down because the foundation’s New York office is shuttering.

Ann Lisi, president and CEO of the Greater Worcester Community Foundation since 1992, will retire at the end of June.

Bob Wittig, executive director of the Catalogue for Philanthropy since 2017, is stepping down, pending the selection of a successor. The organization evaluates nonprofits in the Washington area and works to help donors find out more about effective organizations working on specific causes.

Legacies

Raymond Perelman, who made a fortune in finance, manufacturing, and mining businesses and later gave hundreds of millions to education and health causes, died on January 14. He was 101. His $225 million gift to endow the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school earned him the No. 6 spot on our Philanthropy 50 list in 2011, and he appeared again in 2014 after giving $50 million to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and $6 million to Drexel University.

Nancy Schwartz Sternoff, a former executive at the Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and later director of the Dobkin Family Foundation, died of pancreatic cancer on January 12. In 2011, she founded G&S Consultants, which offered fundraising and governance advice to organizations working to advance social justice, feminism, and human rights.

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