Muscular Dystrophy Association Names Medical Researcher as Next CEO

Muscular Dystrophy Association

Donald Wood, a medical researcher and vice president of institutional effectiveness at Odessa College, will be the next president and CEO of this group that raises money to advance therapies, treatments, and cures for people with neuromuscular diseases. Wood is vice chairman of its board and became involved with the association 40 years ago when he led a task force that later found a genetic cause of muscular dystrophy in 1986.

He succeeds Lynn O’Connor Vos, who has led the charity since 2017.

Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation

Fay Twersky, a vice president at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, will be the next president of this foundation started by the founder of Home Depot. She will begin her new role on February 15, 2021. (The Hewlett Foundation is a financial supporter of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.)

Twersky will succeed Penelope McPhee, who is retiring after leading the foundation for 17 years.

David Suzuki Foundation

Severn Cullis-Suzuki will become its executive director in September 2021. She is the daughter of the environmentalist and science reporter who started the foundation; currently she is completing a Ph.D. in linguistic anthropology on the Haida language.

Cullis-Suzuki will succeed Stephen Cornish, who left in September to return to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in Geneva, focusing on its Covid-19 response.

Ian Bruce, the foundation’s chief operating officer, will serve as acting executive director in the interim.

Wellstar Foundation

Julie Teer has joined Wellstar Health System as senior vice president and will also serve as president of its foundation.

Most recently she was chief development and public-affairs officer at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, where she oversaw its five-year capital campaign, which raised nearly $600 million for its after-school and summer programs.

More New CEOs

J.T. Forbes, CEO of the IU Alumni Association, will also begin serving as interim president and CEO of the Indiana University Foundation in January. He will succeed Dan Smith, who is stepping down after eight years and returning to the faculty of the IU Kelley School of Business.

Janet Godwin, who became interim CEO of the nonprofit education group ACT in May, has been named to the post permanently. She has worked at the organization for 30 years, most recently as chief operating officer.

Other Notable Appointments

Monica Delisa, vice president for university advancement at Georgia College and State University, has been appointed vice president for development at the University of South Carolina.

Robert Driver has been named vice president and chief philanthropy officer at the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, he was assistant vice chancellor of development at the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Thomas Lenehan, deputy chief investment officer at Rockefeller University, has been named chief investment officer at the Wallace Foundation, effective January 4. He will succeed Rob Nagel, who intends to retire from the $1.6 billion grant maker in New York at the beginning of 2021.

Jon Paparsenos, vice president for philanthropy and chief executive of the UNSW Foundation at the University of New South Wales, in Australia, has been named vice president for university advancement at Seton Hall University.

Kimberley Valentine, director of leadership gifts at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, has been named vice president and chief advancement officer at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

Departures

Gail Anthony, CEO of the Community Foundation of Marquette County, is retiring on December 31 after eight years there.

Jon Barada, president and CEO of the Bloomington Health Foundation since 2013, is stepping down to become vice president at IU Ventures.

Legacies

Marguerite Littman, a socialite and philanthropist from Louisiana who used her celebrity connections to raise money for the fight against HIV/AIDS, died on October 16 at age 90. She helped create the AIDS Charitable Trust, a fundraising group in London that raised millions through Littman’s social connections, including with Diana, Princess of Wales. The trust was later rolled into the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1999.

Christopher Pendergast, who founded Ride for Life in 1997, died October 14. He was 71. He created the charity four years after he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. His organization has raised more than $10 million to find a cure for the illness.

Send an email to people@philanthropy.com.