Education Trust
Denise Forte, senior vice president for partnerships and engagement, is stepping up as interim CEO.
She follows John King Jr., who is taking a leave of absence to run for governor of Maryland. He joined the Education Trust in 2017 after serving for two years as secretary of education under President Barack Obama.
National Crime Prevention Council
Paul DelPonte will now serve as executive director of this organization that works to raise awareness about the causes of crime in communities using its McGruff the Crime Dog messaging.
He is a communications consultant who has worked with the AARP, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Open Society Foundations
Daniela Schwarzer, director and CEO of the German Council on Foreign Relations, will be the grant makers’ first executive director for Europe and Eurasia.
Poetry Foundation
Michelle Boone has been named its president, the first woman of color to lead the cultural organization. Most recently she was chief program and civic engagement officer at Navy Pier.
She follows Henry Bienen, who resigned this past June following criticism of the brevity of the foundation’s response to the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent social-justice protests in the summer of 2020.
More New CEOs
Erika Seth Davies, founder of the Racial Equity Asset Lab, has been named CEO of Rhia Ventures. This group works to expand access to reproductive, sexual, and maternal health care for women in the United States.
Kelly Dyer has been appointed president of the Spectrum Health and Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Foundations. She was previously senior executive director of leadership and major gifts at the University of Michigan. Dyer succeeds Vicki Weaver, who is retiring after 28 years at Spectrum Health.
Nikki Eslami, founder of New Theory Ventures, has established the Wild Elements Foundation, which will make grants to conservation and sustainability efforts led by women, Indigenous individuals, or people of color. She will serve on its board. Heidi Nel, previously a principal at the Raben Group, will serve as its first president.
Chera Reid has been promoted to co-executive director of the Center for Evaluation Innovation, where she will serve alongside its founder, Julia Coffman. Reid was previously director of the center’s Evaluation Roundtable.
Brenda Sears, director of grant making and fellowship programs at Voqal, has been promoted to CEO.
Bill Shelton has been named CEO of Habitat for Humanity Cabarrus County. He was most recently the CEO of the Future Citizens Foundation: the First Tee Monterey County-Taylor Farms Center 4 Learning.
Other Notable Appointments
Stephanie Frost, associate dean for external relations at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, is joining Bowdoin College as senior vice president for development and alumni relations.
Lorelle Atkinson has been appointed vice president of communications and marketing at the Aspen Institute. She has served in the position on an interim basis since July and previously was its director of strategic communications.
Becky Betts has been appointed chief marketing and external affairs officer at A Better Chicago. She is the chief of staff at the Emerson Collective where she established Chicago CRED, an organization that works to reduce gun violence through philanthropy, direct service programs, community engagement, and advocacy.
Preeti Chauhan, an associate professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has been hired as a vice president at the Urban Institute. She will lead its Justice Policy Center.
Briann Greenfield, executive director of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, has been appointed director of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Division of Preservation and Access.
Angela Kouters will now be director of government affairs at FairVote. She was most recently a senior adviser to Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s presidential campaign.
James Knapp, chief strategy officer at the Cushman School, has joined Palm Beach Atlantic University as senior director of development.
Shana Mathur will join the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County as chief strategy and external relations officer, effective in July. She currently is chief external affairs officer at the Broad Stage.
Ian Miller will join the National Geographic Society as chief science and innovation officer on July 1. Currently he is director of earth and space sciences at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Michael Mominey, director of athletics at Nova Southeastern University, will now also serve as associate vice president of advancement.
Duncan Remage-Healey, managing director at Parenting Journey, has been named director of advancement and external affairs at King Boston. This nonprofit group is building a memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King to commemorate their civil-rights work in Boston.
Sean San José, program director at Campo Santo, will become artistic director at the Magic Theatre this summer. He will succeed Loretta Greco, who is departing after 12 years there.
Kenneth St. Charles, president and CEO of St. Augustine High School, has been tapped as vice president for philanthropy at the Greater New Orleans Foundation.
Suzanne Sullivan, philanthropy director at Planned Parenthood Great Northwest and Hawaiian Islands, has been named chief advancement officer at YouthCare, a Seattle charity that works to end youth homelessness.
Departures
Peter Kjome will step down as president of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in January.
Anne Parsons plans to retire as president and CEO of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2022, concluding 18 years there.
Caitríona Taylor has departed as CEO of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts after two years. Barbara Fortier, chief operating officer, will serve as interim CEO during its search for a permanent successor.
Legacy
Donald Hubbs died on April 20 at the age of 103. He was an adviser to the hotelier Conrad Hilton, helping shape Hilton’s philanthropic vision beginning in the 1960s. Hubbs guided the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for 36 years, including as president from 1981 until 1988 and then as its chairman and CEO from 1988 until 2005.
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