March 5, 2019 | Read Time: 2 minutes
PACKARD FOUNDATION CEO PLANS TO STEP DOWN
Carol Larson is leaving after 15 years as president of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and 30 years total at the $7.8 billion grant maker. She plans to step down after a successor is found.
During her tenure, the Packard Foundation became a leader in climate philanthropy. In 2009, with the Hewlett and McKnight foundations, Packard gave ClimateWorks, a separate organization they created, a $1 billion mission: work to cut greenhouse-gas emissions in half by 2030.
Following President Trump’s arrival in the White House, Larson became alarmed about the administration’s intention to bolt from the Paris Climate Accord and by its attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. In response, Packard increased its grant-making budget by $22 million.
SKOLL FOUNDATION NAMES NEW PRESIDENT
Donald Gips, former U.S. ambassador to South Africa under President Obama, will become president of the $580 million foundation.
He succeeds Sally Osberg, who announced in 2017 that she would step down after 16 years as the fund’s only chief executive other than founder Jeffrey Skoll himself.
Gips will take over on April 9 at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford, England.
REFUGEE CHARITY APPOINTS NEW CHIEF
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, former policy director for the first lady, Michelle Obama, has been named president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. She is the first refugee to lead the humanitarian group; her parents came to America as asylum seekers from Sri Lanka when she was an infant.
TIME’S UP’S FIRST LEADER STEPS ASIDE
Lisa Borders has resigned as president of Time’s Up. According to news reports, her son has been accused of sexual assault.
Borders was previously president of the Women’s National Basketball Association. She was the first president of the legal-defense fund, which combats sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
FIRST PRESIDENT HIRED TO HEAD MCGOVERN FOUNDATION
Melinda Marble has been named the first executive director of the $1.2 billion grant maker.
The foundation is the legacy of businessman Patrick McGovern, who died in 2014. It focuses on information technology and neuroscience research.
Marble previously was deputy director of the Barr Foundation, director of family philanthropy at Pilot House Associates, and executive director of the Paul & Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation.
WOODS FUND CEO DEPARTS
Grace Hou, president of Woods Fund Chicago for the past seven years, will step down from the foundation to become secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services.
GILL FUND HIRES LEADER TO OVERSEE GRANT-MAKING UNITS
Karen Wick has been named vice president for programs at the Gill Foundation, the philanthropy started by technology entrepreneur Tim Gill to fight bias against gay people.
For the past 11 years, Wick has served as political director and lobbyist for the Colorado Education Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association.
