Mercy Corps Taps Tjada D’Oyen McKenna as Next CEO (Transitions)

Mercy Corps

Tjada D’Oyen McKenna will become the global humanitarian organization’s CEO on October 15. Currently she is chief operating officer at CARE.

McKenna succeeds Beth deHamel, who has served as interim CEO since Neal Keny-Guyer’s departure last October.

Kresge Foundation

The $3.8 billion foundation in Troy, Mich., has promoted two grant-making leaders.

Benjamin Kennedy has been named vice president of programs. He has worked at Kresge since 2009 and formerly served as director of its American Cities Practice and deputy director of the Detroit program.

Genise Singleton has been promoted to director of grants management. She most recently was manager of that department, which was previously named Program Operations and Information Management.

National Organization for Women

Christian Nunes, vice president, has been promoted to president.

She replaces Toni Van Pelt, who has led the group since 2017 and is stepping down following staff accusations of a racist workplace culture.

More New CEOs

Jan Brown, executive director of SpiritWorks Foundation Center for the Soul, has been appointed CEO of the Global Recovery Initiatives Foundation.

Lori Dimun, chief operating officer and general manager, has been promoted to president and CEO of the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater, in Chicago.

Tiffany Hightower, interim director of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, will stay on as executive director.

Nicole Touzien is returning to Dancewave as executive director. She was previously director of education at the New York nonprofit group and succeeds its founder, Diane Jacobowitz, who is stepping down after 25 years.

Margaret Waldock has joined the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation as executive director of Duke Farms. She has served as director of the environment program at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation since 2011.

Other Notable Appointments

Pierre Richard Arty, director of psychiatry at Housing Works, has been promoted to chief psychiatric officer.

Sherise Bright, a communications and brand consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area, will be Lambda Legal’s next chief communications officer.

Maheen Kaleem, program officer at the NoVo Foundation, has been named deputy director at Grantmakers for Girls of Color.

Tie Kim has been appointed chief financial officer at Benetech, a nonprofit maker of software for social good. He has been CFO of Omidyar Network for the past 15 years.

Marc Moorghen is now director of communications at Lever for Change, an affiliate of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Most recently he was principal of his Los Angeles strategic-communications consulting firm, On Message Communications.

Gabriella Morris will join World Food Program USA as its chief philanthropy office on September 8. She is currently senior vice president of strategic partnerships and interim chief development officer at Unicef USA.

Gia Soublet, vice president for institutional advancement at Xavier University of Louisiana, has joined North Carolina Central University as vice chancellor for institutional advancement.

Departure

Sylvia Acevedo is stepping down as CEO of the Girl Scouts of the United States after four years. Judith Batty, a member of its national Board of Directors and retired senior legal counsel at ExxonMobil, will step in as interim CEO.

Legacy

Sumner Redstone, former executive chairman of the entertainment companies Viacom and CBS, died on August 11 at age 97. The billionaire media mogul lavished gifts on universities, addiction-recovery programs, and the arts, including $30 million to George Washington University to establish the Sumner M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness and $20 million to the Motion Picture & Television Fund to help show business employees in need. He also gave $18 million to Boston University’s School of Law in 2012, $10 million to the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts in 2013, and $10 million to Harvard Law School in 2014 for public-service fellowships.

Send an email to people@philanthropy.com.