Rockefeller Foundation Hires Trump Whistle-Blower to Lead Pandemic Prevention

Rockefeller Foundation

Rick Bright has been appointed senior vice president of pandemic prevention and response. In this new role, he will help the $4.9 billion foundation develop a new institute that will work with global public-health organizations to prevent pandemics.

Bright is an immunologist and vaccine researcher. He was most recently deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2016 until April 2020, when he submitted a whistleblower complaint about the Trump administration’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Obama Foundation

Shawn Ray White has joined the organization as general counsel. She is a lawyer who most recently served as general counsel at the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and the Broad Family Office.

Seattle Foundation

Tony Mestres will step down as president and CEO on May 1 after leading the $1 billion foundation for seven years.

David Bley will serve as interim CEO during its search for a permanent successor. He is a member of its Board of Directors and the former Pacific Northwest director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Skoll Foundation

Marla Blow has been named president and chief operating officer of the $2 billion foundation. Most recently she led the North America division of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

Read more in the Chronicle about her appointment and what it means for Skoll’s direction.

More New CEOs

Lajuanda Asemota has co-founded and will serve as the first CEO of Second Chance Studios, a new digital media nonprofit group that trains and employs formerly incarcerated people. Most recently Asemota was principal strategist at Culture and Revelry, a design and strategy firm in Oakland, Calif.

C. Sallay Kim has been named CEO and president of the Miramar National Cemetery Support Foundation. She is a former intelligence officer who retired after serving 21 years in the U.S. Army.

Denise Van Dijk, president of the global public-sector division at the Female Health Company, a manufacturer of female condoms, has been appointed country director for Mozambique at DKT International, a reproductive-health charity.

Other Notable Appointments

Liz Charles, executive director of the Oklahoma Women’s Coalition, has been hired as senior program officer at the Kirkpatrick Family Fund.

Sindy Escobar Alvarez has been promoted to director of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s medical-research program. She has worked at the $2 billion foundation since 2010, most recently as a senior program officer for medical research.

Kristina Gawrgy has been promoted from vice president of communications and marketing to chief communications and community building officer at Independent Sector.

Lisa O’Connor, chief program officer at Safe Horizon, will now also serve as its deputy chief executive officer.

Deborah Slipetz, executive director of imagine@Merck, has been named vice president at the RTW Charitable Foundation, the charitable arm of RTW Investments. The foundation was established in 2018 to make grants for research on rare diseases.

Kim Thomas, vice president of administration at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, is joining the Drug Policy Alliance as chief operating officer.

Jaye Lopez Van Soest, director of development at the American Foundation for the Blind, has been appointed senior director of development at the Fair Food Network.

Ashley Zohn, senior director of learning and impact, has been promoted to vice president of learning and impact at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Departures

Nicky Goren will step aside after seven years as president and CEO of the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation on May 31. She will remain with the $225 million foundation in a consulting role as a senior adviser. Janice Thomas, vice president for finance and operations, will become interim president and CEO, effective June 1.

William Hansen, president and CEO of the Strada Education Network, has departed after seven years there. Tom Dawson, chief operating officer, has stepped in as interim CEO.

Bart Stichman, co-founder of the National Veterans Legal Services Program, is stepping down as executive director after more than 40 years at the helm. He plans to remain with the group as special counsel, where he will focus on its litigation work.

Legacy

Carl Shapiro, a Boston billionaire who made his fortune in the garment industry and gave millions to education, health, Jewish causes, and the arts in Massachusetts and Florida, died on March 7 at age 108. He was the retired president of Kay Windsor, a clothing manufacturer in New Bedford, Mass. With his late wife, the couple created the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation to benefit charities primarily in Boston. They gave a total of more than $72 million to Brandeis University, $7 million to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in 2006, and additional major gifts to Boston Medical Center, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Norton Museum of Art, the Palm Beach Opera, and the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.

Send an email to people@philanthropy.com.