Kataly Foundation Hires First CEO; New Senior Official at Rockefeller Brothers (Transitions)

Kataly Foundation

Nwamaka Agbo, a consultant in Oakland, Calif., who works on issues of racial, social, and environmental justice, will be its first CEO. She will also serve as managing director of its Restorative Economies Fund.

Regan Pritzker, a member of the wealthy Pritzker family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain and Tao Capital Partners, and Chris Olin, her husband and a partner at Tao, created this family foundation in 2018 with $445 million in assets.

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Arturo Aguilar, executive director of the Seattle International Foundation, will now design and lead the $1.2 billion foundation’s new grant-making program for Central America. The funding for this expanded program came through an estate gift from David Rockefeller, who died in 2017 at age 101.

Russell Family Foundation

Kathleen Simpson, interim CEO since January, has accepted the leadership role on a permanent basis. She joined the $135 million foundation in 2015 as chief financial officer.

Simpson succeeded Richard Woo, who retired after 20 years at the foundation.

More New CEOs

Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, will become director and CEO of the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in December.

Brad Herbert, an international-development consultant and co-chair of the United Nations’ Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, will serve as interim CEO of the Healthy Brains Global Initiative, a new international organization to support research on neurological and mental-health concerns. Previously he was chief of operations at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

Willemijn Keizer has been named executive director of the Netherland-America Foundation. Previously she was director of institutional giving at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Keith McIver, director of development, major, and planned gifts at Columbia College, has been named president of the Minority Men’s Network.

Smoke Wallin, CEO of Vertical Wellness, has co-founded Dignity Moves, a charity to provide housing solutions for 150,000 people experiencing homelessness in California.

Danielle York, president and general manager of the Children’s Cancer Association, has been promoted to CEO. She succeeds its founder, Regina Ellis, who will stay with the organization as chief joy officer.

Other Notable Appointments

Tom Hammerton will return to Bradley University as vice president for advancement on December 1. He previously worked at the university for 12 years until 2008 and, more recently, was president of OSF Healthcare Foundation.

Scott Harsh, retired CEO and president of FEG Investment Advisors, has joined NEPC’s Endowments and Foundations practice group as a principal and senior consultant.

Shin Inouye, director of communications and rapid response at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Leadership Conference Education Fund, has been promoted to managing director of communications. In addition, Bertram Lee Jr. has joined the groups as media and tech counsel. Previously he was policy counsel at Public Knowledge.

Melkeya McDuffie, vice president of organization and talent development at Waste Management, has been named chief human-resources officer at the Wallace Foundation. She will succeed Sharon Clark, who intends to retire at the end of the year.

Jim O’Hara, chief financial officer at 92nd Street Y, has been named chief operating officer at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Linda Song Wendel, head of global citizenship at Franklin Templeton Investments, has been named communications director at the Carestar Foundation.

Legacy

Paul Glenn, a commodities trader, investor, and philanthropist, died on September 29 at the age of 89. In 1965, he founded the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, through which he made $100 million in lifetime gifts to advance biomedical research aimed at extending good health into older age. He also supported the American Federation for Aging Research and created the Paul F. Glenn Centers for the Biology of Aging Research, which operate at Harvard University, Stanford University, MIT, the Salk Institute, the Mayo Clinic, Princeton University, the Einstein College of Medicine, the University of Michigan, and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.

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