British Filmmaker to Direct African-Art Museum; New CEO at Brookings

National Museum of African Art

Augustus (Gus) Casely-Hayford has been appointed director of the Smithsonian’s African art museum, effective February 5.

He is well known in Britain as an independent filmmaker and African art historian who produced “The Lost Kingdoms of Africa” for the BBC. He is also the author of a book on Timbuktu and the rise of the Mali Empire, slated for publication next year.

Mr. Casely-Hayford succeeds Johnnetta Cole, who led the museum for eight years before retiring in March.

Brookings Institution

John Allen, a distinguished fellow in the think tank’s foreign-policy program, will become president on November 6. Mr. Allen is also a retired U.S. Marine Corps four-star general who commanded the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. He follows Strobe Talbott, who will step down after 15 years as president.

Melanoma Research Foundation

Elly Brtva, assistant dean of the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health, has become the new chief executive of the Melanoma Research Foundation.

New Jewish Home

Jeffrey Farber will assume the role of president and chief executive of this nonprofit group, which serves elderly Jewish people with health and rehabilitation needs. He starts on December 18. Previously Dr. Farber was senior vice president and chief medical officer for population health at the Mount Sinai Health System, in New York.

Panthera

Frédéric Launay will join the big-cat conservation group as CEO on November 1. Previously, he was acting director-general of the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund. Alan Rabinowitz, who has served as the chief executive since Panthera’s founding in 2006, will step down and assume a new role as chief scientist.

Pantsuit Nation

Cortney Tunis has been appointed executive director of this social-justice organization, which grew out of a Facebook group in support of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run. Ms. Tunis was previously an executive-search associate at Isaacson, Miller.

Voices for Children

David Bialis, who retired as senior vice president and general manager of Cox Communications California earlier this year, has been named interim CEO of Voices for Children.

More New CEOs

Jorrit Britschgi, the Rubin Museum of Art’s director of exhibitions, collections, and research, has been promoted to executive director. He came to the New York museum last year after serving as head of exhibitions and publications at the Museum Rietberg in Zurich.

Lisa Calvert, vice chancellor for institutional advancement and chief operating officer of the foundation board for the Texas Tech University System, has been named vice president for advancement at Washington State University and CEO of the WSU Foundation.

Kathy Halbreich, associate director of the Museum of Modern Art, has been tapped to become executive director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. Ms. Halbreich succeeds Christy MacLear, who has left the foundation to work for the auction house Sotheby’s.

Lindy Eichenbaum Lent, executive director of the Civic Center Conservancy, has been named president and CEO of the Rose Community Foundation, a Denver grant maker.

Jaclyn Piñero, director of development at Bay Area Legal Aid, is the new Bay Area executive director of uAspire. She starts on November 1.

Thomas Sokolowski, former director of the Andy Warhol Museum, in Pittsburgh, was appointed director of Rutgers University’s Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum.

Other notable appointments:

Cynthia Court, managing director and nonprofit practice leader for Harvard Group International, in Atlanta, was appointed vice president for advancement at Berry College, effective in January.

Travis Grantham, director of hospital development for the University of South Alabama, has joined the University of Mobile as vice president for advancement.

Marie Muhvic, a major-gifts officer at Fairfield University, has been appointed vice president for advancement at New England College.

Jacqueline Ober was hired as development and marketing manager at the South Baltimore Learning Center. She last served as alumnae director at the Bryn Mawr School, a private girls school in Baltimore.

Riva Silverman, vice president for external affairs at HIAS, a humanitarian aid group for Jewish refugees, will join the Union for Reform Judaism as vice president for philanthropy after Thanksgiving.

Kimberly Verstandig, interim vice president for advancement at Skidmore College, has been named vice president for college advancement at Connecticut College, effective November 6.

Kathleen Wills joined the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation as director of development for its Florida region. She previously worked at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School in Miami as its development director.

Personnel moves at companies that serve nonprofits:

Jann Schultz, senior director of individual giving and communications at Project HOPE, has become vice president for client services at Merkle Response Management Group, a marketing agency that works with nonprofit clients.

Deb Taft, chief operating officer since last year of the nonprofit search firm Lois L. Lindauer Searches, has been promoted to chief executive. She succeeds the founding CEO Lois Lindauer.

Departures

Lisa Garcia Quiroz, chief diversity officer and president of the Time Warner Foundation, will leave the corporate grant maker in December after 27 years at Time Warner.

Legacies

Marion Etzwiler, who was president and CEO of the Minneapolis Foundation from 1984 until 1994, died on September 24. She was 88. During her tenure, the foundation’s assets grew from $45 million to almost $200 million and became a major philanthropic force in the Midwest. Today it manages assets worth nearly $700 million.

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