The World Resources Institute has announced the election of LAWRENCE JONES, vice president, international programs at the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), and CARLOS LOPES, African Union high representative for partnerships with Europe, to its board of directors. Under Jones’s leadership, EE has launched several new strategic initiatives, including the annual Global Electricity Forum, the Africa Utility Power Sector Exchange, and the Thomas Edison International Utility Executive Fellowship Program. Lopes has held numerous leadership positions in the United Nations over the past twenty-five years, recently serving as the United Nations under-secretary general and executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa.

The D.C.-based Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy has announced the following appointments to its board of directors: LaMAR BUNTS, CEO and co-founder of the Beanstalk Initiative;  LYNN HIRSHFIELD, senior vice president of strategic alliances at Participant Media; RACHEL MUSHAWAR, vice president and general manager for U.S. sales enterprise, government, HPC/AI, next wave cloud providers at Intel; CHRISTINE PINA, chief advancement officer for Miss Porter’s School; DAVID RISHER, CEO and co-founder of Worldreader; and DENINE TORR,  head of strategic development for Dollar General and executive director of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation.

In other news, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits has announced that it is opening a search for a successor to the organization’s founding and current executive director, JON PRATT, who will be transitioning into retirement in 2021. Pratt has served as MCN’s executive director since 1987, when the organization was founded to meet the increasing information needs of nonprofits and to convene nonprofits to address issues facing the sector. In the three-plus decades since, MCN has hosted over two thousand education and networking offerings statewide; launched an association health plan for nonprofit employers; created one of the nation’s largest nonprofit-specific job boards; opened six regional offices in greater Minnesota, and advocated on behalf of nonprofits and a more equitable state through key state and federal policy issues. Pratt will continue to lead the organization as its executive director while the search is underway in the first half 2021, eventually moving into a new senior research fellow role within the organization.

And the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has announced the retirement of program director and vice president JIM DENOVA, effective June 30, 2021. In his twenty years with the foundation, Denova has worked with grantees in West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania to support and advance strategies in education, workforce, and economic development. He was named vice president of the foundation in 2007 and assumed responsibility for regional planning, staff support to the president, and the creation of an interstate Education Grants Program that continues to emphasize innovation in instructional practice, arts education, and career education reform. He has also worked to create integrated systems across state boundaries and has established partnerships for the foundation with university leaders, nonprofit organizations, and thinkers in public and private education. Koya Partners will lead a national search for Denova's successor.