Veteran Charity Executive With Health Focus to Lead AmeriCares

Global relief charity AmeriCares has named a new chief executive, hiring a Georgia nonprofit leader with a specialty in health efforts, writes the Stamford Advocate.

Michael Nyenhuis, who has headed Christian health organization Medical Assistance Programs of Brunswick, Ga., for 19 years, will take the helm at Connecticut-based AmeriCares in late January. He replaces Curt Welling, who announced he was stepping down in April after 11 years as CEO.

AmeriCares raised $524.5-million in 2012, ranking it 28th in The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s most recent Philanthropy 400 report on America’s biggest nonprofits. The Stamford, Conn., group distributed about $500-million in disaster relief and humanitarian aid in 90 countries.

Unlike Medical Assistance Programs, or MAP, which ranked 80th in the Chronicle list, AmeriCares operates U.S. as well as global programs. The new job is “such a perfect fit for me,” Mr. Nyenhuis said. “It’s in the same general space that MAP operates in, but its work is distinct enough that it presents an opportunity for me to grow further.”