Kresge Foundation Names Next Leader of Its Environment Program

Kresge Foundation

Shamar Bibbins will be promoted from senior program officer to managing director of its environment program on September 30. She has worked at the $4.1 billion grant maker since 2014.

Bibbins will succeed Lois DeBacker, who is retiring after 16 years there.

Blaustein Philanthropic Group

Regan Ralph has been chosen as the next executive director of this group of six family foundations in Baltimore. She spent 20 years as the president and CEO of the Fund for Global Human Rights until she departed in 2022.

Ralph follows Betsy Ringel, who is retiring after 29 years there, including 27 as its leader.

Getty Foundation

Daniel Reid will become its associate director in August. He will oversee local, national, and international grantmaking and program operations at the Getty Foundation, a program under the J. Paul Getty Trust that awards nearly $13 million annually to the arts.

Reid has spent the past 10 years as executive director of the Whiting Foundation, in New York.

Philanthropy Southeast

Dena Chadwick, interim president and CEO since the unexpected death of Janine Lee in February, will permanently remain at the helm of this membership association that was previously known as the Southeastern Council of Foundations.

Chadwick has worked there since 2009, and was most recently its chief operating officer.

More New CEOs

Asaf Bar-Tura will become CEO of Literacy Partners on July 22. Most recently he was executive director at the San Francisco education charity SMART.

Cheryl Brubaker has been appointed executive director of the Fund for Women and Girls, a grant-making and advocacy organization in Pennsylvania. Most recently she was executive director of the Women’s Resource Center.

Zac Jones has been promoted from director of clinical services to executive director at Beit T’Shuvah, a Los Angeles synagogue that also offers addiction recovery services and educational programs.

Caroline Pereira, former associate vice chancellor for health advancement at UCI Health, has been hired as president of the Hoag Hospital Foundation.

Michele Scott Taylor has been promoted from president to CEO of College Now Greater Cleveland, effective January 1, 2025. She will follow Lee Friedman, who is retiring after 14 years as its CEO.

Louise Vetter, president and CEO of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, will begin as president and CEO of the Lupus Foundation of America on July 17.

BuildStrong Education Foundation

Jamie Van Leeuwen, CEO and founder of the Global Livingston Institute, has been named managing director of the BuildStrong Education Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Oakwood Homes that focuses on affordable housing, education, and work-force development.

In addition, Amy Schwartz, the foundation’s executive director, has been named vice president of social responsibility and community partnerships at Oakwood Homes.

Other Notable Appointments

Adriana Alejandro Osorio, principal at Alejandro Consulting Group, has been tapped as chief advancement officer at Esperanza United.

Nora Brems, assistant vice president for major and planned giving at Franklin College, has been promoted to vice president for institutional advancement. She graduated from the liberal arts college in 1987.

Oluwadamilola (Dammie) Brown, a physician and former executive medical director at Novartis, has been named senior vice president of mission delivery at the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.

Erin Fogg, vice president for development and communications at Good Shepherd Food Bank, has been named vice president for advancement and alumni relations at the University of Maine at Augusta.

Heather Malin is now chief financial officer and vice president at the Green-Wood Cemetery. Previously she worked at the Brooklyn Public Library as director of its Center for Brooklyn History.

Nick Martinez has been hired as vice president of education and engagement at the Museum of the City of New York. He was most recently assistant director of youth initiatives at the American Museum of Natural History.

Jennifer Noonan has been promoted from senior director of clinical programs and compliance to vice president of clinical strategy and patient engagement at Accessia Health.

Gini Pupo-Walker, executive director at the Education Trust’s affiliate in Tennessee, will now serve as director of the Raikes Foundation’s national education strategy.

Departures

Christopher Langston is departing as president and CEO of the Archstone Foundation. John Feather, a member of its board and former CEO of Grantmakers in Aging, will serve as interim CEO until a successor has been named.

Will Miller will step down as president of the Wallace Foundation in June 2025. He has worked at the $1.7 billion foundation since 2011.

Legacy

Ann Lurie, a Chicago philanthropist who gave millions for public health and medical research, died on June 24 at the age of 79. She began her career as a nurse in pediatric intensive care in Florida and then Children’s Memorial Hospital, in Chicago. Her husband, Robert Lurie, a commercial real-estate developer, died from colon cancer in 1990 at age 48. As president of the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Foundation, she directed many major gifts for public health, including $100 million for pediatric research at Children’s Memorial Hospital in 2007, now known as the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She also founded and served as president of Africa Infectious Disease Village Clinics, a charity that provided free medical care and public-health services to rural communities in southeastern Kenya until its closing in 2012. Read more about Ann Lurie in this 2003 profile in the Chronicle.

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