PolicyLink, Center for Community Change Promote New Leaders

Advocacy Groups Promote New Leaders From Within

Dorian Warren has been tapped as president of the Center for Community Change, a social-justice organization in Washington, effective November 7. He has worked at the charity for two years as a vice president and for its advocacy arm, Center for Community Change Action, as president. Deepak Bhargava, who served as president for the past 16 years, announced in May that he would depart after the 2018 midterm elections.

PolicyLink, which pursues policies that promote equity and other progressive causes, has promoted Michael McAfee to be its new CEO, effective in September. He has been with the organization for eight years. Angela Glover Blackwell, the group’s founder and CEO, plans to continue work that advances PolicyLink’s goals.

U.N. Foundation hires Leader for women’s issues

Michelle Milford Morse has joined the foundation as vice president for its girls and women strategy. Previously she worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on its global health policy and advocacy team.

Foundation transitions

Terry Mazany, who stepped down as CEO of the Chicago Community Trust last fall, has been named senior vice president for philanthropy at the $1.1 billion Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. He will develop new donor relationships and oversee grant making in the region.

Casey Kellogg, a senior philanthropy adviser at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, has been promoted to vice president for donor engagement and services. The foundation is being led temporarily by Greg Avis during a search for a new permanent chief to replace Emmett Carson, who stepped down in June following employee complaints that he permitted a toxic work culture.

Cynthia Brandt-Stover, campaign director at the Smithsonian Institution, will become CEO of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health on September 4.

Carolyn Ainslie has been tapped as chief financial officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, effective October 1. Ainslie now works at Princeton University as its vice president for finance and treasurer.

Huntington Library gets new president

Karen Lawrence, former president of Sarah Lawrence College, has been named president of the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Lawrence will replace the interim president, Steve Hindle.

The library has often appeared on the Chronicle’s Philanthropy 400 ranking of the organizations that raise the most from private sources.

Departures

Kirsten Lodal, CEO and co-founder of Lift, will step down from her leadership post. She has served in that role since creating the anti-poverty charity in 1998. A national search is underway for a successor to take over in January.

Stephanie Meeks, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, intends to leave at the end of this year.

Jim Shelton, head of education at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative since its creation in 2016, plans to step down on August 31. April Chou, a vice president, will serve as interim head of education.

Legacies

Robert Higdon, former director of fundraising for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute and later the managing director of the Prince of Wales Foundation until 2011, died in June at age 58.

Jerry Panas, a prominent fundraising consultant, died in July at age 89.