Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Promotes Longtime Employee to CEO (Transitions)

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals

Teri Nestel, who has served as interim president and CEO since February, has accepted the post permanently. She is the first woman to lead this organization, which raises money for 170 pediatric hospitals and generated $444 million in donations in 2019. Nestel has worked there for 30 years, most recently as chief administrative officer.

In addition, Clark Sweat, chief experience officer, has been promoted to chief operating officer.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Adrian Benepe, senior vice president at the Trust for Public Land, has been tapped as president and CEO. Previously he was the New York City parks commissioner from 2002 to 2012.

Kresge Foundation

Monica Valdes Lupi has been named managing director of the $3.8 billion foundation’s Health Program. Most recently she was a senior fellow at the de Beaumont Foundation, where she worked on public-health issues such as tobacco control, racial justice, and health equity. Valdes Lupi also has served as a senior adviser to the CDC Foundation in its Covid-19 response.

She succeeds David Fukuzawa, who is retiring but will remain at Kresge as senior adviser to the president.

More New CEOs

Jesse Brackenbury, executive director of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, will become president and CEO of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation on May 1, 2021. He will replace Stephen Briganti, who is retiring. Briganti has been with the foundation since 1982 and its president since 1986.

Bethany Hamilton, deputy director of state affairs at the National Association of Community Health Centers, will now serve as director of the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership. She will work alongside her co-director, Joel Teitelbaum.

Sara Lipsky, executive director of Long Island at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, has been promoted to the newly created position of executive director of Metro New York.

Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust

The $564 million foundation has named two new program leaders.

Madison Allen, senior policy attorney at the Center for Law and Social Policy, will join the foundation in November as senior program officer for health improvement.

Adam Linker, senior program officer, has been promoted to director of programs.

Other Notable Appointments

Marc Barbeau has joined Cardinal Stritch University as vice president for institutional advancement and external relations. He was most recently vice president at the fundraising consulting firm Ter Molen Watkins & Brandt, in Chicago.

Shakti Belway, a civil- and human-rights lawyer, will now serve as deputy director of the National Center for Youth Law.

Gabriel Cagwin, chief business development officer at Arizona State University, has been named vice president for institutional advancement at Tarleton State University. He follows Sabra Guerra, who has served as interim vice president since July and will now return to her role as assistant vice president for advancement services.

Karen DiMaria has joined Centenary University as vice president for university advancement. She most recently was vice president of advancement at the Summit Area YMCA.

Charissa Fernández, the former executive director of Teach for America-New York, has joined the Gray Foundation as a senior adviser where she will lead its scholarship programs. The family foundation was created in 2014 by Jon Gray, president and chief operating officer at Blackstone, and his wife, Mindy.

Peter Hussell, interim director of development at the Cleveland Institute of Music, has been promoted to chief development officer. Previously, he was vice president for development at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Kelly Moody, vice president for USA philanthropy at the International Rescue Committee, will join Teachers College at Columbia University as vice president for development and external affairs, starting October 13.

Carlo Robustelli, assistant vice president of advancement at Illinois Wesleyan University, has been named vice president for college advancement at Dickinson College.

Elizabeth Schwan-Rosenwald, vice president for supporter relations at Leadership for Educational Equity, has been named chief program officer at Common Impact. In addition, Katie Stearns was hired as senior director of partnerships. Most recently she was senior director of mentor engagement at iMentor.

Departure

Stephanie Bowers, vice president for university advancement at Western Washington University and president of the WWU Foundation, plans to retire next summer. She joined the university in 2001.

Legacies

William Gates Sr., a corporate lawyer in Seattle who helped his billionaire son establish the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, died on September 14 at age 94. When organizing his philanthropic giving in the 1990s, Bill Gates asked his father to serve as co-chairman of the new foundation, where the elder Gates helped shape its early priorities on grant making to benefit nonprofit groups in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, people living in poverty, and reproductive and children’s health.

Ted Halstead, an author and social entrepreneur, died on September 2 following a hiking accident in Spain. He was 52. Halstead co-founded the nonpartisan New America Foundation and served as its president until 2007. He later created the Climate Leadership Council, where he was chairman and chief executive until his death.

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