Bezos Earth Fund Expands Top Staff; NIH Fund Taps New CEO

Bezos Earth Fund

Cecilia Martinez has been hired as principal adviser for resilience and communities. She most recently worked in the White House as the senior director for environmental justice at the Council on Environmental Quality under President Joe Biden. She is also the co-founder of the Center for Earth, Energy, and Democracy.

In addition, the $10 billion grant maker has named several other top officials.

Valerie Blain-Smith, senior vice president of human resources at the World Wildlife Fund, has been named chief people officer.

Tony Chan has become chief financial and operating officer after serving as the Ford Foundation’s deputy chief operating officer.

Leon Clarke, research director at the University of Maryland Center for Global Sustainability, has joined as director of decarbonization pathways.

Stacie Cobos has been appointed chief communications officer. She was most recently vice president of brand marketing and communications at the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Doug Varley, president of the Washington law firm Caplin & Drysdale, is now general counsel.

Alliance for Safety and Justice

Jay Jordan has been promoted from vice president to CEO. Beginning when he was a teenager, he served eight years in prison for his involvement in an armed robbery. After his release, he went on to pursue a career in reducing violence and advancing public safety.

In addition, Aswad Thomas has been promoted to vice president. A gunshot-wound survivor himself, he previously led the antiviolence organization’s Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice program.

Foundation for the National Institutes of Health

Julie Louise Gerberding, chief patient officer and executive vice president for population health and sustainability at Merck, will become its CEO on May 16.

She served as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2002 to 2009.

Maine Community Foundation

Deborah Ellwood, president and CEO of CFLeads, has been named CEO and president of this community fund with $775 million in assets.

More New CEOs

Elizabeth Babcock is now president and CEO of Forever Balboa Park. She most recently was chief public engagement officer and dean of education at the California Academy of Sciences.

Nolvia Delgado, a community engagement specialist at the law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, will become executive director of the Kaplan Educational Foundation this spring. She will succeed Nancy Lee Sánchez, who is departing to become chief opportunity officer at the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society. Delgado first became involved with the charity 14 years ago as a participant in the Kaplan Leadership Program, which provides resources and guidance to help low-income students at community colleges transfer to top colleges and universities.

Raymond DuBois has been named executive chairman of the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. He is retaining his position as director of the Medical University of South Carolina Hollings Cancer Center.

Julie Ibrahim, who has served as interim CEO of New Narrative for the past year, will continue in the role permanently. Previously she was the mental-health group’s vice president of residential and clinical services.

Ann Kapusta, co-founder and managing director of ThinkSpace Consulting, will now lead the Space Frontier Foundation as executive director.

Terry Lewis has been named executive director of the Sound Start Foundation, which purchases and donates musical instruments for students and school music programs around the world. He is the president and founder of International Business Resources, a consulting company in the musical-products industry.

Barbee Myers Oakes, chief diversity officer at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, will be the American Accounting Association’s first chief diversity officer.

Lendri Purcell, founder of Families Advocating for Chemical and Toxics Safety, and John Jonas, founder and CEO of the Jonas Group, will serve as co-presidents of the Jonas Philanthropies, a nonprofit group that raises money and makes grants for nursing, blindness prevention, and environmental health.

Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies

The $8.2 billion grant maker has made several staffing changes.

Jeannine Balfour, senior program officer at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, is now program director of its legacy programs.

Terry Meersman intends to retire in June after 11 years as vice president of programs.

Terri Thao, a program director at Nexus Community Partners, has joined the foundation as program director for local initiatives and opportunities.

Other Notable Appointments

Sarah Brennan has been named associate director at the Rockefeller Family Fund, where she will help lead its Funder Collaborative on Oil and Gas. Most recently she was senior program officer for the Beyond Carbon program at Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Angella Durkin, chief operating officer at NextEnergy, has joined Forgotten Harvest as its chief financial officer.

Cheila Fernandez, chief compliance and risk officer at the Reinvestment Fund, has been promoted to chief operating officer. In addition, Sara Vernon Sterman has been promoted from vice president of strategic investments to chief program officer.

Nathan Fey has joined the Mighty Arrow Family Foundation as its land and water program director. Most recently he was outdoor recreation industry office director for Colorado.

Elizabeth Fields, chief operating officer at the Gary Sinise Foundation, has been appointed chief marketing and development officer at the First Responders Children’s Foundation.

Iris Garcia, program officer at Akonadi Foundation, is joining Kataly Foundation as a program officer in its Mindfulness and Healing Justice program area.

Crystal Garrant has been hired as chief program officer at Sandy Hook Promise. Most recently she was national vice president of youth development programs at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Adele Hixon-Day will now serve as the head of advancement at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Most recently, she was vice president of development at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Joelle Kanshepolsky has been promoted from associate to partner at Pathway Associates, a nonprofit and government consulting firm in Salt Lake City. Holly Yocom, director of community services for Utah’s Salt Lake County, has also joined the firm as partner.

Elizabeth Prutch, corporate regional philanthropy officer at the American Red Cross, has been named chief impact officer at the Colorado Nonprofit Association. In addition Gerry Rasel, membership manager at the Society of Economic Geologists, has returned to the association as director of membership services, a role she previously held from 2007 until 2021.

Grant Riewe, executive fellow and adjunct faculty at the University of St. Thomas’s Opus College of Business, has been hired as chief technology officer at Vibrant Emotional Health, the charity that operates the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Sandra Salstrom, a legislative representative for the American Federation of Government Employees, has joined Social Finance as vice president of government relations.

Ashley Williams will now serve as the vice president of programs at Jumpstart for Young Children. Most recently, she was director of California policy and educator-engagement programs at the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. Also, Humberto Estratalán, director of public policy at Unite-LA, has joined the group as its California state director.

Tim Wills, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of South Alabama, will be the first chief impact officer at Mentor.

Departures

Tammy Richards will retire later this year after eight years as CEO of VolunteerNow, a technology nonprofit group that matches volunteers with charities in North Texas.

Michael Tilson Thomas, co-founder and artistic director of the New World Symphony for 34 years, will step down because he has been diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive brain cancer. Tilson Thomas also spent 25 years as music director of the San Francisco Symphony before departing in 2020.

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