David Blumenthal
Commonwealth Fund
David Blumenthal, MD, will step down as president of the Commonwealth Fund at the end of 2022, after 10 years as head of the 104-year-old health care policy foundation. Under his leadership, the Commonwealth Fund has introduced numerous new initiatives, including a major effort to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care practice, policy, and outcomes and an expansion of work in health care coverage and access and international health policy and practice innovations. During his tenure, the fund has steadily enhanced its stature as a source of objective, nonpartisan analysis to inform national discussions around health policy, as well as the sophistication and reach of its communications capabilities.
Before joining the fund in 2013, Dr. Blumenthal was the Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine and Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. He was also Chief Health Information and Innovation Officer at Partners Healthcare System (now Mass General Brigham). From 2009 to 2011, Dr. Blumenthal served as U.S. National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. He is the author of hundreds of scholarly and lay articles, as well as several books, including Heart of Power: Health and Politics in the Oval Office.
Contact: 212.606.3800.
Julie Ermler
Ethel & James Flinn Foundation
The Ethel & James Flinn Foundation announced the addition to the team of Julie Ermler as CFO. Ms. Ermler brings more than 25 years of finance, accounting, investment, tax, human resources, and administrative experience. Most recently, she served as the Vice President of Finance and Administration of the Hudson-Webber Foundation.
Contact: 313.309.3436.
David Haroz
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation appointed David Haroz as its first-ever Chief of Staff. In this new role, Mr. Haroz will optimize planning and execution across strategy, operations, and special initiatives to advance the foundation’s mission. Mr. Haroz will also oversee the communications department to develop strategies that support the foundation’s programmatic and organizational objectives. He plays a key role as an officer of the foundation and member of the leadership team, reporting directly to President and CEO Peter Laugharn.
Mr. Haroz has two decades of experience leading the formation and implementation of strategic policy and communications for the United States government, the United Nations, and nonprofits while based in the United States, Africa, and Asia. Most recently, Mr. Haroz served as the Chief Policy Advisor and Director of Communications for the United States Department of State’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Previously, Mr. Haroz was an independent senior policy and communications consultant working with clients such as World Bank and Save the Children in Vietnam. Mr. Haroz began his career working with organizations focused on addressing the global AIDS epidemic, including stints with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS in Nairobi, Kenya and Washington, DC and the International AIDS Trust.
Contact: Courtney Weider at 818.540.0511 or courtney@hiltonfoundation.org.
Jerry Jones
Anchorum St. Vincent
Anchorum St. Vincent appointed Jerry Jones to be the President and CEO of the organization. Mr. Jones came to Anchorum in 2017 as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and has served as the Interim President and CEO since the Fall of 2021. During his tenure, Mr. Jones developed and successfully launched a new strategic direction for the organization that has added $10 million in new grants to nonprofit service providers in northern New Mexico, more than $20 million in new community impact investments, and has been instrumental in launching several leading initiatives including the Community Health Funder Alliance and the Community Catalyst Fund.
Mr. Jones brings 25 years of experience to Anchorum. Before joining Anchorum, he served as the Interim President and CEO of the Santa Fe Community Foundation where he had served as a board member for more than a decade. His career in business spans a wide range of senior leadership roles including as a partner in a public accounting practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico and as a Managing Director of the Santa Fe, New Mexico based retailer Packard’s on the Plaza.
Contact: Angelica Ortega at 505.280.9430.
William Jahmal Miller, Stacie Olivares, and Vernita Todd
The California Endowment
The California Endowment appointed three new members to its board of directors. The new appointees, William Jahmal Miller, Stacie Olivares, and Vernita Todd, began serving on The Endowment’s governing board on May 24, 2022. They replace directors whose terms end in May 2022. The newly appointed directors each will serve a three-year term and are eligible to serve three terms for a total of nine years.
William Jahmal Miller serves as the Chief Administrative Officer of Dignity Health Mercy Medical Group, a service of CommonSpirit Health. He’s recognized as a national leader and expert on health care strategy, public health, health equity, mental health, and public policy. Mr. Miller previously held leadership roles with Blue Shield of California, Kaiser Permanente, and Sutter Health. In 2013, former Governor Jerry Brown appointed Mr. Miller as the Deputy Director of the California Department of Public Health’s Office of Health Equity. He served as the state’s lead advisor on issues related to reducing health and mental health disparities and achieving health equity for all Californians.
Stacie Olivaresis is a director, investor, and advisor who advances economic progress and equity across finance, technology, policy, and media. In 2021, President Biden nominated her to the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board that oversees the world’s largest 401(k) program, the $800 B Thrift Savings Plan, a role subject to U.S. Senate confirmation. From 2019 to 2022, she served as Governor Gavin Newsom’s appointee to the Board of Administration of CalPERS, the largest public pension in the United States. Ms. Olivares is the former Chief Investment Officer of Lendistry, a fintech small business lender, and the California Organized Investment Network, a $29 B insurance industry investment fund focused on ESG.
Vernita Todd currently serves as the Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for San Ysidro Health in San Diego. Aligning her passion and education, her career has focused on leading organizational strategy and leadership development across multiple business lines to, ultimately, increase access to high quality health care in communities. Prior to joining San Ysidro Health, Ms. Todd served as the President and CEO of Heart City Health Center in Elkhart, Indiana, and is the principal founder of the consulting firm, Human Capital Group Advisors. Ms. Todd serves on several nonprofit boards and was recently appointed by the CA Senate Rules Committee to California Health Workforce and Education Training Council. Nationally recognized for her advocacy for the underserved, Ms. Todd is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and a lifetime member of the National Association of Community Health Centers.
Contact: Sarah Reyes 559.470.4545 or sreyes@calendow.org.
Kathleen J.S. Mills
Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts
The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts announced Kathleen J.S. Mills, Ph.D., LICSW as Vice President for Programs. Dr. Mills will be responsible for assisting in the development and implementation of the foundation’s strategic grantmaking agenda as set by the board, including management of the grant portfolio and budgets, directing outreach activities, facilitating the application process, monitoring the grant evaluation process, and assisting in evaluating the foundation’s impact. She will also advise and support grantees’ evaluation, advocacy, and lobbying efforts.
Contact: Daniel Germain at 508.438.0009 or dgermain@hfcm.org.
Mary Phan-Gruber
Jefferson Regional Foundation
Jefferson Regional Foundation announced the impending retirement of its CEO, Mary Phan-Gruber, who joined it as its first executive director in 2013. A social worker whose career has been embedded in the nonprofit sector, this is the second of two Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-area health grantmaking foundations she has led from creation. Before taking the top position at Jefferson Regional Foundation, she helped develop and then directed the Birmingham Foundation for 10 years. Ms. Phan-Gruber will assist the foundation until a successor is named this summer.
During Ms. Phan-Gruber’s tenure, the Jefferson Regional Foundation has awarded $18 million in grants to 125 nonprofits in its legacy South Hills and lower Mon Valley, Pennsylvania service area, comprising 215,000 people and over two dozen municipalities. Ms. Phan-Gruber helped lead major investments in the Front Door Initiative at Jefferson Hospital, an innovative social emergency medicine program, re-energizing community development efforts in the City of Clairton and focused support to help the growing immigrant and refugee community in the South Hills thrive.
Ms. Phan-Gruber’s accomplishments include the Jefferson Community Collaborative, an active network of 110 community-based organizations that meet quarterly and work in action teams year-round. The foundation hosts an annual conference, the Jefferson Forum, and has published a Jefferson Community Directory. It compiles and shares local data through community snapshots and with a current initiative called Surprise in the Suburbs. The foundation’s Around the Table South initiative gathered 1,000 residents and staff in small conversation groups over a meal during one week in 2018 and identified areas of community focus to guide its future work.
The foundation with the Jefferson Community Collaborative initiated a communitywide Mental Health First Aid Training and a Jefferson Counts campaign during the 2020 Census that engaged 70 nonprofits, local schools, and businesses. The latter is serving as a model for a current voter engagement effort, Jefferson Votes.
Ms. Phan-Gruber previously worked as a Deputy Director in the Allegheny County Department of Human Services Area Agency on Aging and as Assistant Director at the Center for Victims; she has also been a mental health therapist, community organizer, and nonprofit consultant. Ms. Phan-Gruber has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University, served as a Department of Justice peer reviewer, and has presented at local and national conferences. She is a past Board President of the Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and has served on several other boards.
Contact: Mary Phan-Gruber at 412.496.6838 or mary.phan-gruber@jeffersonrf.org.