Tuesday, November 29, 2016

People Post: Staff And Board Changes At Health Foundations

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Mary Backley, vice president for finance and administration at Grantmakers In Health (GIH), departed from the organization at the end of September. According to an announcement from Faith Mitchell, president and CEO, "Mary has been a core member of GIH's staff since 1993, helping us grow from a small circle of Funding Partners to our current 250+." Backley was well known for event coordination—particularly the GIH Annual Conference on Health Philanthropy.

Meredith Sullivan Benton is the new senior program officer at the Healing Trust, a foundation in Nashville, Tennessee. (The funder was formerly called the Baptist Healing Trust.) This philanthropy funds nonprofits in forty counties in Middle Tennessee. Benton was previously chief of staff and assistant commissioner for external affairs at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. According to her biography, "her career highlights include serving in the office of a U.S. senator, two Governor[s'] administrations and for a former President's international organization."

Lisa M. Fasolo Frishman has joined the Syracuse, New York, office of the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York. She is senior program officer and directs the funder's work in community health capacity and policy, according to an October press release. She was previously executive director of the NY (New York) Funders Alliance. Her past positions include program coordinator at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Jake Grindle has been promoted to program officer I at the Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF). According to his biography, he "administers the Discretionary Grant and Meeting Support Programs and is helping to lead MeHAF's efforts to deepen its focus on health equity."

Kristen Keely-Dinger, executive vice president of the Healing Trust, has been promoted to be its new president and CEO. A licensed advanced practice social worker, she will succeed Catherine ("Cathy") Self, who will retire. Keely-Dinger will become the trust's new leader in December.

Elizabeth ("Beth") McGlynn was named chair of the ABIM Foundation's board, according to a July press release. She is director of Kaiser Permanente's Center for Effectiveness and Safety Research.

Diane Oyler has joined the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York as a program officer. She started there in July. Oyler was previously with the Erie County (New York) Department of Senior Services. At the foundation, Oyler will focus on vulnerable older adults and caregivers. She continues as a lecturer at Buffalo State College in its public administration department.

According to an October press release, Robert ("Bob") K. Ross, president and CEO of the California Endowment, will join the Weingart Foundation's board of directors, effective January 1. The Weingart Foundation, located in Los Angeles, California, funds in six Southern California counties. Read its announcement about its "Fiscal Year 2017 Program Plan."

Brandon Skidmore has joined Sunflower Foundation, located in Topeka, Kansas, as a program officer, according to an October e-alert. Skidmore most recently was director of the Bureau of Health Promotion at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. According to the e-alert from Billie Hall, Sunflower president and CEO, Skidmore will manage the foundation's Health Care program area, including its Integrated Care Initiative. The program focuses on "attainable and sustainable integration of primary and behavioral health care at the community and statewide levels." Skidmore also will work closely with Sunflower's Healthy Living and Active Communities and its Advocacy and Policy program areas.

Charlie Venti, executive director of the Nicholson Foundation, located in Newark, New Jersey, will retire at the end of December. He "has led the day-to-day operations" of the foundation since 2010, according to his biography. His successor will be named soon.

Pamela Browner White is now senior vice president of communications at ABIM and the ABIM Foundation, according to an August press release. On the foundation side, she is supporting its mission to advance medical professionalism. For example, she will strive "to expand conversations about avoiding inappropriate or unnecessary tests and treatments" through the foundation's Choosing Wisely campaign. White most recently was senior vice president of corporate communications and strategic development at Esperanza Inc., "the largest Hispanic faith-based nonprofit" in the United States. Before that, she was vice president, public affairs, for Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

Honors

Ralph Fuccillo, president of the DentaQuest Foundation, received the 2016 Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism. He was "honored for his work as a servant leader in public health and his lifelong commitment to health equity," according to an announcement from the foundation. He received the award on November 4. Read the original announcement from the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship organization and an article in the Somerville (Massachusetts) Times for more information.

Grantmakers In Health announced in September that eighteen foundation staffers were named to the 2016 class of fellows for the Terrance Keenan Institute for Emerging Leaders in Health Philanthropy. The Aetna, Blue Shield of California, Empire Health, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundations fund the institute this year. Two of the new fellows have written for GrantWatch in the past. Jennifer Chubinski of Interact for Health (formerly the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati) coauthored a GrantWatch article, "For Two Regional Health Foundations, Returns from the Kentucky Health Issues Poll Are Worth the Investments," in the September 2014 issue of Health Affairs. Kimalon Meriwether of the Cleveland (Ohio) Foundation wrote a July 2015 Health Affairs Blog post titled "A Perfect Combination: The Cleveland Neighborhood Model for Urban Health Care Education."

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), was one of three people honored by the United Hospital Fund "for their work to improve health and health care," according to a September press release. Lavizzo-Mourey "received the Health Care Leadership Award for her visionary work to build a national 'culture of health.'" She has announced plans to step down from her position at the RWJF. Read a GrantWatch blog post about this news.

Read Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil's interview with Lavizzo-Mourey and Alonzo Plough, vice-president, research-evaluation-learning, and chief science officer at the RWJF, in the November issue of Health Affairs. The interview is titled "Building A Culture Of Health."

Next Avenue's 2016 Influencers in Aging, who "continue to push beyond traditional boundaries and change our understanding of what it means to grow older," included some names from philanthropy: Bruce Chernof of the SCAN Foundation, John Feather of Grantmakers In Aging, Terry Fulmer of The John A. Hartford Foundation, and Carol Levine of the United Hospital Fund.



from Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog http://ift.tt/2ggsyVQ

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