Ben Jealous Will Next Lead Sierra Club; People for the American Way Promotes Svante Myrick to CEO

Sierra Club

Ben Jealous will become its executive director on January 23. He will be the first person of color to lead the environmental group.

Currently, Jealous is president and CEO of People for the American Way.

AARP Foundation

Claire Casey, global head of policy and insights at Economist Impact, will be the next president of the advocacy group for older Americans.

She will begin her new role on January 9 and will work alongside Jo Ann Jenkins, who will remain CEO.

People for the American Way

Svante Myrick will be promoted from executive director to president and CEO of the progressive advocacy organization on January 1.

Read a Chronicle op-ed Myrick wrote after the midterm elections earlier this month about the future of progressive activism.

Tree of Life

Carole Zawatsky, chief advancement and strategy officer for the National Museum of American Jewish History, will be the first CEO of this new national organization that is working to end antisemitism in the United States. It is housed at the site of the Pittsburgh synagogue where 11 people were shot to death in 2018.

More New CEOs

Patricia Akhimie, director of the RaceB4Race Mentorship Network and an associate professor of English at Rutgers University at Newark, will become director of the Folger Institute at the Folger Shakespeare Library, effective next summer. She succeeds Kathleen Lynch, who has led the institute since 1996 and has now retired.

Cheryelle Cruickshank, acting executive director of the Community Resource Center for the Developmentally Disabled, has been hired as executive director of IncludeNYC.

Emma Hertz, strategy director at the Montgomery County Recovery Office, in Pennsylvania, has been appointed CEO and president of the HealthSpark Foundation. She succeeds Russell Johnson, who has worked there since 2002 and is now retiring.

Meralis Hood, market president at City Year, will now serve as CEO of Entrepreneurship for All. She succeeds David Parker, who has led the charity since its founding 10 years ago and will remain as a member of its board.

Stephanie McHenry, chief operating and financial officer at the Democracy Collaborative, will become its CEO on January 1. She will serve alongside Joe Guinan, who will be promoted from vice president for strategy and programs to president at that time. They will replace its co-founder Ted Howard, who is stepping down in December after 22 years there.

Karla Pleitéz Howell will be the next executive director of First 5 LA. Most recently, she was branch chief of the California Department of Social Services’ Child Care Development Division.

Kish Cumi Price, commissioner for Kentucky’s Department of Workforce Development, has returned to the Louisville Urban League as CEO and president. She was previously its director of education policy and programs from 2019 until last year. Price succeeds Sadiqa Reynolds, who has led the group for seven years.

Other Notable Appointments

Michael Barber, a learning consultant at Chicago Public Schools, has been hired as senior program officer at the Brinson Foundation.

Cassandra Crifasi will be promoted from deputy director to co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions on January 1. She will serve alongside Joshua Horwitz.

Chanthi Lune, general counsel at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, will now also serve as senior vice president of operations.

Joe Manok will start as vice president for university advancement at Clark University on January 17. Currently he is senior director of philanthropic partnerships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Karim Merchant has been appointed senior executive officer of development at the Arc of the United States, a charity that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He was previously vice president for development at the Cancer Support Community.

Monique Nieves has been hired as chief operating officer at the Brooklyn Community Foundation. She comes to the $76 million community fund after serving as executive director of operations for the New York City Department of Education’s Office of Student Enrollment.

Departure

Miriam Nelson, CEO of the Newman’s Own Foundation since 2020, has resigned.

Legacy

Martin Morse Wooster, a senior fellow at the Capital Research Center who wrote extensively on philanthropy, died in a hit-and-run accident on November 12. He was 64. Wooster wrote the books Great Philanthropic Mistakes and The Great Philanthropists and the Problem of Donor Intent in addition to essays in many publications.

Send an email to people@philanthropy.com.