March 22, 2019 | Read Time: 6 minutes
Camp Fire
Greg Zweber, chief affiliate officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, will become national president and CEO at the end of April. He succeeds Cathy Tisdale, who is retiring after nine years at this organization, which runs youth-development programs and summer camps nationwide and is headquartered in Kansas City, Mo.
Hadassah Foundation
Stephanie Blumenkranz has been hired as director of this organization that makes grants for the health and well-being of Jewish girls and women in Israel and the United States. Most recently she was associate director at the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York.
Martha’s Table
Kim Ford will become president and CEO of the Washington food bank and education organization. Previously she was acting assistant secretary in the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education at the U.S. Department of Education under President Obama. Ford succeeds Patty Stonesifer, who announced in November that she would retire after six years.
Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Rajiv Vinnakota will serve as its next president. He co-founded the SEED Foundation and most recently led the youth and engagement division at the Aspen Institute. He succeeds Arthur Levine, who announced in August that he would leave the higher-education grant maker this summer after 13 years at the helm.
More New CEOs
John Beavers, vice president and director of the International Alliances Program at the National Audubon Society, will become executive director of Amazon Conservation, an environmental group that works to protect the Amazon rainforest in Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru. Beavers replaces Hannah Stutzman, who stepped down in November.
Daniel Beckley, vice president and general manager of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, will take over as executive director of the Kansas City Symphony on July 29. He will succeed Frank Byrne, is stepping down after 19 years.
Susan Brown will become president of the Minnesota Council on Foundations, effective April 22. She is currently the chief operations officer for the newly merged Minnesota State Bar, Hennepin County Bar, and Ramsey County Bar Associations and their respective foundations.
Kareem Crayton, interim executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice since January 2018, has agreed to take the role permanently. Before joining the civil-rights organization, he served on the faculty of Vanderbilt University Law School.
Daniel Greene, exhibitions curator and historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, will become president and librarian of the Newberry Library on August 19. He succeeds David Spadafora, who is retiring after 14 years at the helm.
Hina Mahmood, lead program officer at the Woods Fund Chicago, has stepped up as interim president of the foundation. She follows Grace Hou, who is departing to serve as secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services.
Carissa Moffat Miller, interim executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, has been appointed permanently to the role. Previously she served as deputy executive director of membership and outreach. In addition, the organization hired Simintha Esson, chief development officer for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, as its next chief development officer.
Holli Seabury, CEO of McMillen Health, has been named executive director of the Delta Dental Foundation. She succeeds Teri Battaglieri, who is retiring.
New Nonprofit Consultants
Joshua Birkholz, a principal at Bentz Whaley Flessner, has been named CEO of the international fundraising consulting firm. He succeeds Bruce Flessner, the company’s founder and principal, who is leaving after 36 years.
Gretchen Littlefield, president of Infogroup Media Solutions, has been named CEO of Moore DM Group, a marketing consulting firm for nonprofit groups. Jim Moore, the company’s founder, is stepping aside to focus on the firm’s strategic growth and acquisitions.
Vanessa Schnaidt, group account director at Cause Communications, which provides marketing services to nonprofit organizations, has been promoted to vice president.
Empower, the Emerging Markets Foundation
The charity has named two new vice presidents.
Larry Bloom joined as vice president for global operations and finance. Most recently he was chief financial officer at Windham Mountain Resort.
Kristen Woolf, a senior consultant at the NoVo Foundation, has been hired as vice president of programs.
Other Notable Appointments
Kathleen Christy, vice president for institutional advancement at D’Youville College, has joined Hilbert College as vice president of institutional advancement.
Kesha Clinkscale has been named vice president for external affairs at Habersham Medical Center and executive of the HCMC Foundation. Previously she was director of philanthropy at CCA&B, the company that makes Elf on the Shelf.
Punita Dani Thurman, program director for the education portfolio at the Skillman Foundation, has been promoted to vice president of program and strategy at the $478 million grant maker.
Maria Santos Valentin, secretary and general counsel at the Open Society Foundations, has been named general counsel and corporate secretary at the Rockefeller Foundation.
Kristi Kessler Walters has joined the Duke Endowment as a program officer in higher education. She comes to the foundation from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, where she served as interfaith program fellow, program officer, and senior adviser to the president.
Departures
Ioannis (Yannis) Miaoulis, president and director of the Museum of Science in Boston since 2003, will leave this summer to become president of Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I.
Legacies
Marian Sulzberger Heiskell, a lifelong civic volunteer born into the family that has owned the New York Times since 1896 and who married the publisher of Time Inc., died March 14 at age 100. In 1972, her efforts led Congress to create the Gateway National Recreation Area, a federal agreement to protect wildlife living in the coastal areas of the New York-New Jersey Harbor. She also gave millions to journalism causes, including $4 million to Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in 2005, and another $4 million to the Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York in 2006.
Anne Musyoki, regional lead for Africa at TechSoup Global, was killed when an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed en route to Nairobi on March 10. Musyoki was returning home from a work event hosted by TechSoup Italy.
Lester Smith, who made a fortune in oil and gas in Texas, died on March 14. He was 76. With his wife, Sue, he made more than $150 million in charitable gifts. Their $50 million donation to Texas Children’s Hospital and $11 million in other giving earned them the No. 31 spot on our Philanthropy 50 list in 2018. Since the beginning of this year, the couple also pledged $1 million to March of Dimes and $2.5 million to the Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston.
Send an email to people@philanthropy.com.
