Helmsley Charitable Trust Promotes General Counsel to CEO

Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust

Sarah Paul has been tapped as CEO of the $8 billion grant maker.

She has worked there for nearly seven years as general counsel and succeeds Stephanie Cuskley, who has been at the helm since 2015.

Colorado Trust

Jodeen Olguín-Tayler will now be executive director of community partnerships, the $525 million foundation’s largest grant-making strategy.

Most recently she was head of partnerships and strategic growth at B Lab, a network of certified benefit corporations.

OutRight Action International

Maria Sjödin, deputy executive director, will serve as acting executive director at the human-rights group until a permanent successor has been named. She follows Jessica Stern, who was appointed special envoy to advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons at the U.S. State Department.

Neela Ghoshal has also joined the organization as its director of law and policy. She previously worked at Human Rights Watch as associate LGBT-rights program director.

More New CEOs

Kate Callahan, who has been interim executive director of Research for Action since December 2020, has accepted the role permanently. She has worked there for 12 years, most recently as chief research officer.

Jaime Kowlessar, senior pastor at Dallas City Temple, will serve as interim executive director of Faith in Texas. He succeeds Akilah Wallace, who is departing to become vice president of development at Big Thought, a youths organization in Dallas.

Other Notable Appointments

Emily Bookwalter, director of development at Roulette Intermedium, has been named director of external affairs at the New Group, a theater company in New York. Shariffa Ali, an artist and director of projects in theater, film, and virtual reality, has also joined the organization as director of artistic projects.

George Callas, a tax lawyer at Steptoe & Johnson, will now be executive vice president of public finance at Arnold Ventures, the grant maker created by the billionaire investors Laura and John Arnold. Callas previously served as senior tax counsel to former Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin while he was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Christina Knudsen has joined the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation as vice president of development and communications. Previously, she was development director at the Salvation Army of La Crosse County.

Ruth Jones Nichols, president and CEO of the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, has been named chief movement officer at Feeding America, based in the organization’s office in Washington, D.C. In this role, she will oversee external affairs and communications.

Roger Wellington, director of iCater Enterprises at Pine Street Inn, has been promoted to senior director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the homeless-services organization for homeless people in New England.

Hannah West, director of community relations at Hospice of Davidson County, has been named director of the Guilford Technical Community College Foundation.

Departures

Anne Ewers is stepping down as president and CEO of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. She began leading the organization in 2007.

Michael Rich, president and CEO of the RAND Corporation since 2011, intends to retire next year.

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