Vilcek Foundation Names President; Irvine Fund Hires New Investment Chief

Vilcek Foundation

Executive director Rick Kinsel has been promoted to president. He has been with the foundation since it launched in 2000.

The grant maker’s co-founders, Jan and Marica Vilcek, will take on new titles, with Mr. Vilcek serving as CEO and chairman and his wife as vice chairwoman. The foundation works to raise awareness about the contributions of immigrants to the United States and to foster appreciation of the arts and sciences.

Mr. and Mrs. Vilcek, who came to the United States from the former Czechoslovakia, spent their careers in the biomedicine and art-history fields, respectively. The foundation’s assets stand at more than $128 million, according to its 2015 informational tax return.

James Irvine Foundation

Tim Recker was appointed chief investment officer, a post he will assume on November 14. He currently serves as managing director for private equity and real assets for the University of California’s endowment fund. Mr. Recker replaces John Jenks, who will retire in January after more than 14 years with the Irvine foundation.

NextFifty Initiative

Margaret Franckhauser, chief executive of |Central New Hampshire VNA & Hospice, has been named CEO of NextFifty, a newly created grant maker focused on improving the lives of older people.

Other notable appointments:

Phil Lussier, former principal of the financial firm Crow Point Partners, was named chief executive of Make-A-Wish Metro New York and Western New York.

David Flood, vice president of the Intermountain Foundation, has been named its president.

Nassim Assefi, director of stage content for TEDMED, the health and medicine arm of the TED conference, will be executive director of MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba).

Departure:

Tom Hoch, founder of the Hennepin Theatre Trust, will step down from the organization after leading it for more than 20 years.

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