June 18, 2021 | Read Time: 4 minutes
Robin Hood
Richard Buery Jr. will be the next CEO of this charity, which meets critical needs for people who live in poverty in New York, effective in September.
Currently he is CEO of Achievement First, a network of 37 charter schools in New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. From 2014 to 2018, he served as deputy mayor for strategic policy initiatives for the City of New York, at which time he helped create the city’s Pre-K for All program.
AmeriCorps
Michael Smith has been nominated to lead the service organization, pending confirmation in the U.S. Senate.
He previously was executive director of the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance and director of youth opportunity programs at the Obama Foundation.
Read more about what his nomination signals for AmeriCorps.
Gary Sinise Foundation
Mike Thirtle will be the next CEO of this foundation founded in 2011 by the actor Gary Sinise to help military veterans, first responders, their families, and others in need.
Thirtle, who served for 20 years in the United States Air Force, most recently was president and CEO of Bethesda Lutheran Communities. He succeeds Robin Rand, who is departing after three years.
Open Society Foundations
Salil Shetty will be the grant makers’ first vice president for global programs, beginning on September 1.
He has been a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy since 2018.
More New CEOs
Fatima Angeles, vice president of programs at the California Wellness Foundation, has been named executive director of the Levi Strauss Foundation.
Alexander Berger, co-founder and managing director of Open Philanthropy, will now serve as co-CEO alongside Holden Karnofsky.
Jennifer Bernstein will become CEO and president of the New York Botanical Garden on September 1. She will join the charity from the Natural Resources Defense Council where she has served as chief development officer and interim chief operations officer.
LaShanda Jackson, vice president of development at Common Cause, has been hired as the next executive director of the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation.
Beth Kaskel, director of programming and director of operations at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, has been named executive director of the Acorn, a performing-arts center in Michigan.
Ted Probert, executive vice president for development, has been promoted to president and CEO of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation.
Stephania Ramirez, senior program officer of strategic initiatives at the California Community Foundation, will be the first executive director of the Perenchio Foundation. This $28 million family foundation was established by the Los Angeles media mogul A. Jerrold Perenchio, who was the former owner and chairman of Univision. He died in 2017.
Other Notable Appointments
Jason Amore, vice president for university advancement at Alfred University, will become senior vice president for university advancement at Fairleigh Dickinson University on August 1.
Amy Bernard will join the Kavli Foundation as director of life sciences in August. Currently she is director of science and technology strategy at the Allen Institute.
Joy Bivins has been named director of the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. She joined the library last year as associate director of collections and research services at the Schomburg Center.
Sara Brookner, foundation-relations manager at Emerson College’s Office of the Arts, has joined the Celebrity Series of Boston as associate director of institutional giving.
Meaghan Brown has been promoted to executive vice president and chief advancement officer at the United Way of New York City. She has worked there since 2013, most recently as senior vice president and chief development officer.
Angela Jones, CEO of Washington STEM, will be the next director of the Washington State Initiative at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Ara Serjoie has been appointed vice president for institutional advancement at Haverford College, effective August 1. Currently he is vice president for advancement at Guilford College.
Beth Zapatka, associate dean for development and alumni affairs in the School of Nursing at Yale University, has been named vice president for institutional advancement at Springfield College.
Legacy
Herb Sturz, co-founder of the Vera Institute of Justice, died on June 10. He was 90. Sturz led the group from its creation in 1961 until 1978. His successor, Michael Smith, died from lung cancer on May 31 at age 78. Smith was president of the institute from 1978 until 1994.
Send an email to people@philanthropy.com.
