Ibram Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research Taps Yanique Redwood as Executive Director

Center for Antiracist Research

Yanique Redwood, president and CEO of If, a Foundation for Radical Possibility, will now serve as the center’s executive director. It was created at Boston University in 2020 by the scholar Ibram X. Kendi.

In the Chronicle, Redwood co-wrote this opinion piece about how nonprofit groups can better work to reduce inequity and improve the lives of low-income people and communities of color. She also shared this tool to ensure a nonprofit organization’s operational and grant-making practices are aligned with its diversity goals.

ChildFund

Isam Ghanim, president of Search for Common Ground, will join the children’s charity as its next president and CEO on March 1.

He succeeds Anne Lynam Goddard, who is retiring after 15 years in the top role.

GLSEN

Melanie Willingham-Jaggers has been promoted from deputy executive director to executive director. They have served as interim executive director since Eliza Byard departed in March 2021.

Willingham-Jaggers is the first nonbinary person as well as the first person of color to lead the advocacy organization for LGBTQ+ students.

Silicon Valley Community Foundation

Judi Powell has been hired as executive vice president of donor engagement and corporate responsibility.

She joined the $12.2 billion community fund from Pacific Foundation Services, where she was vice president of program and strategic initiatives. Powell also founded Seven Hills Philanthropy, a consulting firm in California.

More New CEOs

Amir Ali will be the next executive director of the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center. A professor at Harvard Law School, he previously served as director of the organization’s office in Washington, D.C., and deputy director of its U.S. Supreme Court and appellate program.

Meghan Duggan will be the next president of the Women’s Sports Foundation. A former Olympic hockey player, she most recently served as manager of player development at the New Jersey Devils professional men’s hockey team.

Laura Dalle Pazze has been tapped as CEO of I Am ALS, a charity that raises money for research and to develop treatments and cures for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Most recently she was president and chief operating officer at Charley’s Fund.

Heidi Wallis has been named executive director of the Association for Creatine Deficiencies. She has been president of the association’s board for the past two years and professionally was project coordinator of the newborn screening informatics team at the Utah Department of Health.

George Whelan has been promoted to president of the fundraising and direct-marketing company Amergent. Previously he was senior vice president of business development. Whelan succeeds Jack Doyle, who will remain with the company as a strategic adviser to its nonprofit clients.

Other Notable Appointments

Daniel Almanza, a music teacher who has worked at high schools in Sacramento, Los Angeles, and California’s San Gabriel Valley, will now serve as West Coast regional director at the Save the Music Foundation.

Wendy Connors, executive director of the Office of External Relations at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, will now serve as chief development officer at the Hertz Foundation.

Michael Feinstein, CEO of the Bender JCC of Greater Washington, has joined the consulting firm Capacity Partners as vice president.

Britt Fouks, vice president and managing director of client services at TrueSense Marketing, has been hired as vice president of strategy and planning at CDR Fundraising Group.

Natalie Graham has been appointed vice president of community engagement at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. She comes to the arts group from California State University at Fullerton where she was chair of the Department of African American Studies and co-founded its Institute of Black Intellectual Innovation.

Kevin Gray, a senior project and program manager at the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, has joined the Kresge Foundation as a program officer in its American Cities program.

Sarah Grutza, director of corporate social responsibility at National Food Group, has returned to the United Way for Southeastern Michigan as vice president of corporate relations. She previously worked there as corporate-relations director.

Jamaica Maxwell has been promoted from deputy director to director of organizational effectiveness at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. She succeeds Linda Baker, who is departing after nearly 27 years at the foundation.

Sherrie Mazur, senior vice president of communications and public affairs at the V Foundation for Cancer Research, has been appointed managing director for communications at the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.

Judi Petkau has been promoted from program officer in the arts-education program at the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to program director for teachers.

Stanley Richards, first deputy commissioner of programs and operations at the New York City Department of Correction, has been named deputy CEO at the Fortune Society.

Steven Rowe, director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Research Center, will become chief scientific officer at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on July 1. He will oversee its academic research and venture philanthropy program investments.

Alesia Soltanpanah has joined the Center for Reproductive Rights as chief development officer. A nonprofit-management consultant, previously she was the executive director of World Animal Protection U.S. until 2020.

Nadege Souvenir has been promoted from senior vice president of operations and learning to chief operating officer at the Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation.

Catherine Woodling has been promoted from director of marketing and communications to deputy executive director at the East Lake Foundation. Dwayne Watkins, data manager at the foundation in Atlanta, has also been promoted to impact and engagement manager.

Departures

Pierre Ferrari will retire after 12 years as president and CEO on Heifer International in September.

Julian Haynes is departing after six years as a program officer at the Meyer Foundation.

Mary Hunt, program director for community and economic development at the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, will retire in June. She started working at the $430 million foundation in 1999.

Terry Meersman, vice president of programs at Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, plans to retire in June after 11 years there.

Tom Nelson, president and CEO of Share Our Strength, intends to retire on June 30.

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