Water for People CEO Leaves to Join Wounded Warrior Project

Ned Breslin, CEO of Water for People, is stepping down after nine years to become executive vice president for partnership and strategic investment at the Wounded Warrior Project.

“I’m really proud of what we’ve done,” Mr. Breslin said of his tenure at Water for People, an international development organization. “We have great results in the field, more money than we ever had, and created a great reserve fund. Starting at the end of last year, I started to sit back and say, ‘I need a new challenge.’ "

For that challenge, he decided to consider a cause other than clean water, with which he’s been involved for nearly 30 years. He started speaking with his friend Steven Nardizzi, founder of Wounded Warrior Project, about the nonprofit, and decided it made sense for him.

“It fits with my view of the world, about being outraged about people being left behind,” Mr. Breslin said.

His new position will involve building alliances with the government and across the private sector, he said. That’s a passion of his, he explained, because he thinks philanthropy works best when it tackles areas in which the government and market forces alone haven’t been successful.

Mr. Breslin starts his new role on May 18. He waited to make the transition until now because it was important to him to represent Water for People at the Skoll Foundation world forum (he won the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2011) and at the Do Good Data conference, both of which took place last month.