Howard Brown
Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation
As the Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation (PAHWF) strives to bring community voices together, Senior Program Officer Howard Brown’s roots in the Pottstown, Pennsylvania community provide connections for building a brighter future. Mr. Brown was promoted to the role of Senior Program Officer this summer, where he will lead program staff who manage the day-to-day grantmaking, community collaboratives, and strategic partnerships.
Mr. Brown joined the foundation as a Program Officer in April 2016. He currently serves on multiple community boards, including the Tri-County Community Network, the Foundation for Pottstown Education, and Pottstown Hospital, Tower Health.
He led the effort to create the COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Fund, which has provided community nonprofits and micro businesses with over $200,000. He instigated and managed efforts for the relief fund and worked alongside PAHWF staff to raise over $20,000 from individuals within the community toward the recovery fund, which remains open for contributions.
Mr. Brown will contribute to the foundation’s continued efforts to promote greater equity in the community and will help direct the initiative to bring outside funding into the community as the foundation establishes a new grant writer position.
Contact: John Robertson at 540.817.8219 or jrobertson@pottstownfoundation.org.
Jesse Burbank and Tracy Kalytiak
Mat-Su Health Foundation
The Mat-Su Health Foundation (MSHF) announced that Jessie Burbank has joined the Connect Mat-Su team as Community Resource Specialist and Tracy Kalytiak has been promoted to Program Officer.
In her role, Ms. Burbank is the first point of contact for Connect Mat-Su, a social services information and referral resource center operated by the Mat-Su Health Foundation. Ms. Burbank provides social service navigation and referrals and works to develop and maintain an extensive database of resources available in the community. She brings a wealth of experience advocating for those in need. Most recently, Ms. Burbank worked at The Children’s Place where she assisted children and families impacted by child abuse.
Ms. Kalytiak was promoted to Program Officer after having served as Program Associate for three years. She will continue her work on the foundation’s Target Wellness and Coronavirus Prevention and Response grant programs. Ms. Kalytiak also oversees MSHF sponsorships and its technical assistance pool for grantees. Previously, she worked as a writer and editor at the University of Alaska Anchorage and at several publications, including Alaska Magazine, Alaska Business Monthly, and the Frontiersman.
Contact: Robin Minard at 907.250.6445 or rminard@healthymatsu.org.
John Feather and Lindsay Goldman
Grantmakers in Aging
Grantmakers In Aging (GIA) has named Lindsay A. Goldman, LMSW, as its next Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2021. Ms. Goldman succeeds John Feather, PhD, who is retiring after leading GIA since 2011.
GIA acts as a relevant and responsive network, resource, and champion amplifying the voices of older people and issues of aging and is the nation’s only affinity group for funders working on aging.
Ms. Goldman comes to GIA from The New York Academy of Medicine, where she was the founding Director of the Center for Healthy Aging. Specializing in public-private partnerships to create age-inclusive environments, she oversaw a diverse portfolio that included the award-winning Age-friendly NYC and Health & Age Across All Policies initiative in New York State; the WHO Collaborating Center on Aging, Globalization, and Urbanization; and IMAGE: The Interactive Map of Aging, an online data tool for policymakers and funders. Ms. Goldman has testified before Congress and frequently speaks at international and national conferences on aging.
Prior to her time at the Academy, Ms. Goldman worked at the UJA Federation-New York, where she was responsible for strategic planning and grantmaking to support older adults, as well as emergency preparedness and response, and information and referral services. She also led the Health Enhancement Partnership, an adult day program at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, for which she received a Best Practice Award from the National Council on Aging. She began her career at Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC, where she coordinated an intergenerational mentoring program in the Bronx.
John Feather became Chief Executive Officer of GIA in late 2011 and ushered in a period of new programs, greater engagement, and sustained outreach for the organization. He developed and led several national philanthropic initiatives on age-friendly communities, rural aging and mobility, complex care, caregiving, and HIV and aging, among others.
Contact: John Beilenson at 610.453.5993 or jbeilenson@aboutscp.com.
Susan Mims, MD, MPH and William Buster
Dogwood Health Trust
The Dogwood Health Trust has named Susan Mims, MD, MPH, the Interim Chief Executive Officer of the region’s largest foundation focused on the health and well-being of all people and communities of Western North Carolina. Dr. Mims will join Dogwood Health Trust in December, partnering with the board and staff to ensure continuity in grantmaking and drive forward strategic initiatives.
Dr. Mims is currently employed with the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) where she chairs the newly established Department of Community and Public Health at UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC. In that role, she built a team of clinical and public health experts in support of MAHEC initiatives that focus on educating future public health advocates, eliminating health inequities, and addressing social determinants of health in collaboration with regional and state partners. These efforts include coordinating a regional community response to COVID-19 prevention, treatment and recovery with the expansion of community health workers across Western North Carolina. These community-led initiatives bring prevention education to the region and connect those in need with care and services through the NCCARE360 program.
Prior to joining MAHEC, Dr. Mims served on Mission Hospital’s leadership team working to meet the health care needs of the people of WNC and to promote health throughout the region. She was the Vice President for Children’s Services and Clinical Genetics and Personalized Medicine at Mission Health, Chief of Pediatrics for Mission Children’s Hospital, and Vice Chief of Staff for Mission Hospital. Dr. Mims was also Chief Executive for Mission Children’s Hospital where she oversaw growth in specialty care and services for children, improved financial performance, and developed outreach programs to serve the health and dental care needs of children in rural WNC.
Dr. Mims was the Medical Director at the Buncombe County Health Department, where she was responsible for clinical services in the county’s largest indigent care clinic, school-based health centers, and comprehensive public health. Prior to that, Dr. Mims was a physician in a private practice in Durham, NC.
In addition, William Buster joined the Trust’s Impact Team. As Senior Vice President of Impact, Mr. Buster is responsible for the visioning, development, and implementation of ambitious program strategies designed to advance strategic initiatives toward the organization’s goal of dramatically transforming the health and well-being of all communities in Western North Carolina. Mr. Buster will help identify and build strategic relationships based on shared objectives with key leaders, community-based organizations, nonprofits, and other funders in order to fund bold and innovative strategies that move the needle on health disparities and inequity in WNC.
Mr. Buster most recently served as the Executive Vice President of Community Investments for St. David’s Foundation in Austin, Texas where he provided oversight for its grantmaking programs and mobile Dental Program. He led the design, development, delivery, and evaluation of grantmaking strategies.
Prior to his role with St. David’s Foundation, Mr. Buster founded Common-Unity Philanthropic and Nonprofit Advisors and worked for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. He serves on the national boards of the Association of Black Foundation Executives, Grantmakers in Health, and the Whitney Plantation Museum and is a founding member of the Black Family Land Trust.
Contact: Erica Allison at 828.329.5089 or erica@formationpr.com.
Lauren Smith, MD, MPH
CDC Foundation
The CDC Foundation announced that Lauren A. Smith, MD, MPH, is joining the foundation in a newly developed role, Chief Health Equity and Strategy Officer. . In this role, Dr. Smith will partner with the foundation’s other senior leaders to develop and drive strategic efforts to embed health equity across the CDC Foundation’s COVID-19 response activities with an explicit focus on addressing systemic racism and its impact on the ability for vulnerable populations to be resilient amidst the pandemic.
In her new role, Dr. Smith will also lead activities to build organizational capacity to integrate health equity into the foundation’s practice, process, action, innovation, and organizational performance to elevate the importance of and sustain the foundation’s health equity efforts. Dr. Smith will also serve as a principal advisor to the board of directors, the CEO, and the Executive Team on the foundation’s overall strategic opportunities, risks, and tradeoffs related to health equity strategy and implementation.
Dr. Smith joins the CDC Foundation from FSG, one of the world’s leading social impact consulting firms, where she served as co-Chief Executive Officer and led the firm’s United States’ health practice. At FSG, she helped drive the vision and growth of the firm to advance its mission of achieving equitable social impact at scale. She advised foundation leaders and partnered with community and social sector leaders.
Her previous leadership roles have included serving as the Medical Director and then Interim Commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Senior Strategic Advisor for a 50-state, federally-funded innovation and improvement network focused on reducing infant mortality, the National Medical Director of the Medical Legal Partnership for Children and the Medical Director of the Pediatric Inpatient Service at Boston Medical Center, where she was on faculty in the Department of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine.
Her experience in federal and state government includes roles as a Policy Analyst in the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and as a W.T. Grant Health Policy Fellow in the office of the Massachusetts Speaker of the House.
Contact: Amy Tolchinsky at 404.523.3486.
Richard Tate
The California Wellness Foundation
Richard Tate has been named Executive Vice President of The California Wellness Foundation (Cal Wellness) after serving as the foundation’s Vice President of Public Affairs since 2016. In his new role, he will join the foundation’s executive office and serve as Chief Deputy to President and CEO Judy Belk, playing a key role in aligning Cal Wellness’ board, management, and staff on organization-wide efforts to advance the foundation’s mission and vision.
Mr. Tate will lead strategy development, learning, and innovation and will continue overseeing public affairs. He will also represent the foundation’s executive office in external relations activities. In his previous role, Mr. Tate built the foundation’s first integrated public affairs department, a multidisciplinary team responsible for communications, community relations, and public policy activities. He has led the expansion of Cal Wellness’ digital communications strategy and infrastructure; its grantmaking related to media, journalism and events; its organization-wide learning and innovation capacity; and its advocacy efforts to advance access to health care, immigrant rights, gun violence prevention, and racial justice.
Prior to joining Cal Wellness, Mr. Tate served as Vice President of Communications and Marketing at Hopelab, the health-focused nonprofit organization of the Omidyar Group, and as a Director of Communications at Chiron, a global biotechnology company. Mr. Tate has more than 20 years of cross-sector leadership experience in business and philanthropy. He is currently board secretary of Northern California Grantmakers and board chair of OUTWORDS.
Marissa Tirona
Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees
Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR) appointed Marissa Tirona as its next President. Ms. Tirona will succeed Daranee Petsod, GCIR’s founding President, who will step down from her role at the end of 2020, after leading the organization for more than 20 years. Ms. Tirona and Ms. Petsod will overlap for the remainder of this year, ensuring a smooth transition and handoff as Ms. Petsod exits the organization.
Ms. Tirona holds an impressive record of accomplishment, including more than 15 years of experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. She comes to GCIR from the Ford Foundation, where she currently manages a $225 million portfolio and serves as a program officer with the Building Institutions and Networks (BUILD) initiative, Ford’s flagship program designed to strengthen organizations and networks core to the social justice infrastructure. Before joining Ford in 2017, Ms. Tirona led the Blue Shield of California Foundation’s programmatic, policy, and grantmaking efforts to address, prevent, and ultimately end domestic violence and promote health equity throughout the state. Prior to that, she was senior project director at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, where she designed and led comprehensive, multiyear leadership initiatives. She had previously served as program director of the National Employment Lawyers Association and, before that, as an employment attorney at two national law firms.
A hallmark of Ms. Tirona’s leadership is her proven ability to nurture powerful networks comprising diverse viewpoints and lived experiences. Ms. Tirona will draw on these skills to lead GCIR and its members toward an intersectional vision for social justice in which communities of color, including immigrants and refugees, are central. In the ever-changing and complex landscape in which GCIR operates, Ms. Tirona possesses a deep understanding of what is needed to lead and manage a thriving, adaptive, and impactful organization. In addition to serving as a senior leader in both social justice and philanthropic institutions, she has extensive management and organizational development experience, and is a certified coach. These are critical leadership tools that will ground GCIR as it reflects, adapts, and centers its partners and the communities it serves.
Contact: press@gcir.org.
Linda Song Wendel
CARESTAR Foundation
Linda Song Wendel has joined the CARESTAR Foundation as the new Communications Director. With Ms. Wendel on board, the foundation anticipates increasing its impact throughout the state and quickly becoming a stronger resource and better partner for organizations seeking to lead improvements in the emergency response landscape.
To read her bio, click here.