A City Year Service Alum Will Succeed Its Co-Founder as CEO (Transitions)

City Year

James Balfanz, who has been president of the service group for nine years, has been promoted to CEO. His association with the group goes back to 1993, when he served as a City Year AmeriCorps member in Boston.

Balfanz succeeds Michael Brown, City Year’s co-founder, who stepped down as CEO this past summer after 12 years in the role.

Aspen Institute

Vivian Schiller, who most recently led the Civil Foundation, has been hired for a new role that will oversee the institute’s newly combined media and technology programs, beginning early next year.

A journalist by trade, Schiller was also the CEO of National Public Radio from 2008 until 2011.

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Sam Gill will be the $2.3 billion foundation’s first chief program officer and senior vice president. He has worked there since 2015, most recently as vice president for community and national initiatives.

Gill has written for the Chronicle’s opinion pages, including this piece on technology in which he was a co-author, and another pondering how long charities must stick to the missions articulated by their founders.

McKnight Foundation

Nichol Higdon, vice president of operations and executive director of the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities, has joined the $2.3 billion foundation as vice president of finance and operations.

More New CEOs

Joshua Arce, a lawyer specializing in tribal law who is also chief information officer at Haskell Indian Nations University, has been hired as president and CEO of the Partnership With Native Americans. He succeeds Robbi Rice Dietrich, who is retiring after seven years at the helm.

Melvin Nobles Jr. will be the first executive director of Friends of the Children’s new Tacoma chapter. Most recently, he spent seven years as director of the Tacoma/South Puget Sound MESA (Math, Engineering, Science, Achievement) program.

Vangela Wade, a lawyer who practices family law, heirs property, and estate planning and administration, will become president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Justice next month. She succeeds Reilly Morse, who will become general counsel.

Barika Williams, who was deputy director of the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development until 2018, is returning to become its next executive director. Since last year, she has worked as the assistant secretary for housing under Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York.

National Audubon Society

The wildlife-conservation group has announced four new senior appointments.

Njambi Good, deputy executive director for campaigns and membership at Amnesty International USA, has joined Audubon as vice president of the Pacific Flyway.

Amy Sobel is now vice president of the Atlantic Flyway. She has spent 10 years as senior adviser to the president and CEO of Human Rights First.

Aurelio Ramos, general manager for the Latin American region at the Nature Conservancy, will next be senior vice president for Audubon’s International Alliances Program.

Justin Stokes, Audubon’s vice president of political affairs and executive director of the Audubon Action Fund, will next be vice president and executive director of Audubon South Carolina.

Other Notable Appointments

Nilanjan (Neil) Bhattacharya is now the development manager at Mouse, a nonprofit group that designs computer science and an online STEM curriculum for teachers of kindergarten through 12th grade. Most recently, he was senior development associate and grant writer at the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation.

Stacie Paxton Cobos has been named vice president of brand marketing and communications at the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Most recently she was senior vice president for communications and marketing at the Climate Reality Project, a nonprofit organization founded by former Vice President Al Gore.

Morgan Herman, vice president for philanthropy and chief philanthropy officer at New England Baptist Hospital, is now executive vice president at the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund.

Michele Moore, chief communications officer at the American Civil Liberties Union, has joined the Ford Foundation as vice president of global communications. She succeeds Alfred Ironside, who is stepping down after 14 years.

Kindred Motes, digital strategy director at the Vera Institute of Justice, has been appointed senior officer for communications and strategic engagement at the Wallace Global Fund.

Matt Rosen, who stepped down as executive director of Foster Youth in Action in September, has joined Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco as chief program officer.

Katherine Stenesen, chief development officer at the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, has been named chief development officer at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

Legacy

Pete Frates, whose fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis inspired the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, a fundraising movement that went viral on social media in 2014, died on December 9. He was 34. The Ice Bucket Challenge, in which people shared videos of themselves pouring buckets of ice water over their heads, generated more than $200 million in donations to the ALS Association and other groups working to find a cure to this debilitating condition, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, that causes paralysis and death.

Send an email to people@philanthropy.com.

M.J. Prest has been writing about major gifts, grant making, and executive moves for the Chronicle since 2004. Email M.J.

Correction: This article has been corrected to say that Amy Sobel used to be senior adviser to the president and CEO of Human Rights First.