Children’s Defense Fund Names First New Leader in 47 Years (Transitions)

Children’s Defense Fund

Starsky Wilson will take over as president and CEO of the child-advocacy organization in December. He succeeds Marian Wright Edelman, who has led the group she founded since 1973.

An ordained pastor who led Saint John’s Church (the Beloved Community) in St. Louis for 10 years, Wilson is currently president and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation. Read more about him in this Chronicle profile from our 40 Under 40 feature in 2016.

Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation

Dwayne Patterson, vice president of strategy and engagement at the Partnership for Southern Equity, is joining the $182 million foundation as its first chief equity impact officer. His new job starts in October.

In addition, the foundation has hired Danielle Spratley as chief equity learning officer, effective in November. Currently, she is director of programs and strategy at Village of Wisdom.

Community Development Network of Maryland

Claudia Wilson Randall, associate director, has been promoted to executive director. She succeeds Odette Ramos, who has led the group since 2013 and was recently elected to Baltimore’s City Council, effective in December.

Cru/Campus Crusade for Christ International

Steve Sellers, executive vice president and U.S. national director, has been promoted to president, beginning in October.

More New CEOs

Clare Blankemeyer, vice president of strategic initiatives at the Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation, has been named executive director of GreenLight Cincinnati.

Tina Markanda, executive director of the Foundation for a Healthy High Point, has been appointed executive director of the Cannon Foundation in Concord, N.C.

Allen Smart has been named interim executive director of the Foundation for a Healthy High Point. He is the former interim CEO and vice president at the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust.

Troy Vaughn, executive director and co-founder of the Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership, will now serve as president and CEO of the Los Angeles Mission, which provides services to homeless people. He succeeds Herb Smith, who is retiring after 14 years in the role.

New Top Fundraisers

Jen Bokoff, director of stakeholder engagement at Candid, has joined the Disability Rights Fund as director of development.

Gregory Cascione, a fundraising consultant, has been named special assistant to the president for development and alumni relations at Lawrence Technological University.

Michelle Rosenthal Clark, assistant vice chancellor at the University of California at San Francisco, has been appointed associate vice president for development at the California Institute of Technology.

DeAnna Duncan Grand, director of development and policy analyst at the Learning Policy Institute, has been tapped as vice president of strategic planning and development at Council for a Strong America.

Bruce Marquis has been named development director at WVTF Public Radio and RADIO IQ, the public-radio network at Virginia Tech. Most recently he was a development officer at West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Kelley Whiter, senior director of development at the American Technion Society for the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, has been tapped as chief development officer at the Ferd and Gladys Alpert Jewish Family Service.

Other Notable Appointments

Renée Espinoza has been named director of program strategy at the Metta Fund. She has spent the past seven years as executive director of San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocates.

Marjona Jones has been appointed senior program officer at the Collective Future Fund. Most recently she was a program officer at the Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock.

Adrian Ohmer, senior manager of private equity at the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, will now serve as an investment director at the Kresge Foundation, overseeing its $4 billion endowment.

Omari Richins, a community health fellow at the Mat-Su Health Foundation in Alaska, is joining the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust as a program officer for the foundation’s Health Improvement in North Carolina program.

Astrid Vermeer has been named chief financial officer at World Education Services. Most recently she was chief financial officer at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

Departures

David Bley, director of the Pacific Northwest team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the past 14 years, will step down on October 31. Allan Golston, president of the foundation’s U.S. programs, will serve as acting director as the foundation searches for a permanent successor.

Christen Boone, president and CEO of Fund for the Arts since 2014, intends to step down on June 30, 2021.

Legacies

William Freyd, chairman emeritus of Catapult Fundraising, died on August 20 at age 87. He created the phone and mail-solicitation methodology of fundraising, which was originally designed for Yale University.

Gordon Perkin, a pioneer in public health in Seattle, died on August 21 at age 85. Perkin co-founded PATH, a Seattle health charity that began in 1977. A physician and trusted friend of William Gates Sr., Perkin later guided his friend’s son, Bill Gates, as the younger Gates began developing his philanthropic efforts in the 1990s. Perkin went on to serve as the first director of global health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He also persuaded the Gates Foundation to foster the creation of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

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