National Science Foundation Leader Joins the Science Philanthropy Alliance (Transitions)

Science Philanthropy Alliance

France Córdova, an astrophysicist who recently stepped down as director of the National Science Foundation after six years, has joined the scientific grant makers’ group as a senior science adviser.

Council for Professional Recognition

Calvin Moore Jr. has stepped in as interim CEO following the departure of Valora Washington. He has served on the council’s board and most recently worked as the regional program manager in Atlanta for the Office of Head Start in the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Scan Design Foundation

Fidelma McGinn, chief philanthropy officer at the Seattle Foundation, has been named president of this organization, which that is focused on Danish-American relations. She succeeds Mark Schleck, who is retiring after 18 years.

Other Notable Appointments

Sarah Armour-Jones has joined the Melville Charitable Trust as director of communications. Previously she served as a communications and program consultant to foundations and nonprofit groups.

Delstene Atkinson, special assistant to the president and provost at Olivet College, will now also serve as interim vice president for advancement.

Leah Austin, vice president of programs at the Southern Education Foundation, has joined the Schott Foundation for Public Education as director of the National Opportunity to Learn Network.

Melanie Masters Burzynski, senior executive director of development at the University of California at Los Angeles’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been appointed senior vice president for advancement and external affairs at the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. She succeeds Rebecca Shehee, who retired in February.

Johnnetta Betsch Cole, retired principal consultant at Cook Ross, will now be special counsel on strategic initiatives at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Jake Logan, vice president for university advancement at Ball State University and president of the Ball State University Foundation, has been named vice president for institutional advancement at the University of Texas at El Paso.

David Nassar is now vice president of communications and strategic engagement at the John Templeton Foundation. Previously he was vice president of communications at the Brookings Institution.

Irish Spencer has been named assistant vice chancellor for corporate and foundation relations at Fayetteville State University. She is the founder of Families Against Senseless Killing, in Greensboro, N.C.

Steve Varley, vice president for development at the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, has been tapped as vice chancellor for advancement at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Tracey Vranich, vice president for advancement services at the University of Southern California, has stepped up as interim senior vice president for university advancement. She replaces Albert Checcio, who has led the university’s fundraising for 10 years and will now serve as an adviser to the president.

LaShawn Warren, senior vice president of campaigns and programs at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Leadership Conference Education Fund, has been promoted to executive vice president of government affairs for the organizations.

Departure

John McKeegan, vice president for institutional advancement and general counsel at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore., will depart next month to become president of Mount Aloysius College.

Legacies

Arthur (Eddie) Binder, vice president of external relations at Dona Ana Community College since 2013, died on April 26. He was 64.

Ann McBride Norton, former president of the watchdog group Common Cause, died May 5 of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. She was 75.

Thomas Sokolowski, director of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, died on May 6. He was 70 years old. Sokolowski was one of the four founders of Visual AIDS in 1988, and later served as director of the Andy Warhol Museum, in Pittsburgh, from 1996 until 2010.

Send an email to people@philanthropy.com.