Rep. Derek Kilmer Will Lead Rockefeller Foundation’s U.S. Program and Policy Team

Rockefeller Foundation

Rep. Derek Kilmer, Democrat of Washington State, will become senior vice president for its newly created U.S. program and policy team, effective in January. In this role, he will guide strategy for the foundation’s $1 billion commitment for inclusive climate policy in the United States and around the world.

Kilmer has represented Washington’s 6th Congressional District since 2013.

Local Initiatives Support Corporation

John Moon will be the first president of LISC Green. He will oversee the organization’s creation of energy-efficient affordable housing using funding from the federal Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

Most recently, he served as senior vice president and sustainability philanthropy leader at Wells Fargo.

United Way Bay Area

United Way Bay Area

Keisha Browder will be the first Black CEO of this San Francisco organization.

Most recently she was CEO of United Way of Santa Cruz County.

More New CEOs

Maryann Barry, former CEO of the Girl Scouts of Citrus Council, has been named CEO of SpaceKids Global. She succeeds its founder, Sharon Hagle, who will remain with the organization as board chair.

Tramecia Garner, chief operating officer, has been promoted to executive director of Swords to Plowshares. She succeeds Michael Blecker, who is stepping down after 42 years at this organization that supports homeless and low-income military veterans in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Vivian Huelgo has been promoted from chief program officer to president and CEO of Esperanza United.

Pam Klyn, executive vice president for corporate relations and sustainability at the Whirlpool Corporation, has been named president of the Whirlpool Foundation.

Shaneva McReynolds has been promoted to president of FAMM, a group previously known as Families Against Mandatory Minimums. She was most recently vice president of strategic initiatives and organizational development.

Muneerah Merchant, chief of advancement and partnerships at the Children’s Health Council, is the new CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation USA.

Other Notable Appointments

Karla Bruce, former chief equity officer for Fairfax County, Va., has joined Race Forward as its chief of staff.

Britt Davis has been named vice president for institutional advancement at D’Youville University. Previously he was vice president for university advancement at Campbell University.

Caroline Maddox, vice president of advancement at South Arts, has joined the High Museum of Art as its deputy director of philanthropy.

Miyesha Perry has been promoted from director of grants management and learning to chief program officer at the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. She has worked at the $609 million foundation for five years.

Dawn RobertsMark, a teacher and administrator at Baltimore City Schools, is now managing director of program operations at the Children’s Guild. In addition, Andrew Simone has been hired as chief financial officer. Most recently he was chief financial officer at Marina Landscape.

Jenny Schuetz, an economist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, has been hired as vice president of infrastructure for housing at Arnold Ventures. In addition, Sara Schaumburg has joined the grant-making LLC as vice president of advocacy, communications, and external affairs and chief of staff. Most recently she was chief counsel and staff director for Sen. Jon Ossoff, Democrat of Georgia.

Departures

Susie Surkamer, president and CEO of South Arts, plans to retire in June 2025. She has led the regional arts organization since 2012.

Wendy Van, president of the Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools for the past decade, has retired. John Neal, who recently retired as associate superintendent for civic engagement at Lincoln Public Schools, will serve as interim president until a permanent successor has been named.

Legacies

Richard Cash, a public-health expert and longtime board member at BRAC USA who helped establish the anti-poverty group’s U.S. office in 2006, died on October 22. For more than 40 years, he was a senior lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Donald Hall, a Kansas City billionaire and philanthropist, died on October 13 at age 96. His father, J.C. Hall, founded Hallmark Cards, where Donald Hall served as president and CEO from 1966 until 1983. He was the longtime chairman of the Hall Family Foundation, a $1 billion grant maker to enhance quality of life in the Kansas City metropolitan area, as well as a founding member of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. His notable gifts through his family foundation include $10 million in 2017 to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, where he was a trustee for 31 years, and $5 million in 2011 to the University of Kansas to develop cancer treatments.

Steve Mariotti, a special-education teacher who founded the nonprofit Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, died on October 20. He was 71.

William (Chip) Mellor, co-founder of the Institute for Justice, died on October 11 from leukemia at age 73. He created the civil-liberties nonprofit in 1991 with Clint Bolick and served as its president for the next 25 years.

Caleb Offley, a senior adviser in the Walton Family Foundation’s education program for more than 10 years, died on October 11.

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