The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has announced the appointment of CHARMAINE JACKSON MERCER as chief of equity and culture, a newly created senior position. Currently a program officer in the foundation's education program, Mercer will oversee grantmaking focused on racial equity, including a new ten-year, $150 million racial justice initiative. She also will serve as an internal resource on racial equity in grantmaking and will help shape the foundation's diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and further develop its ongoing program of internal learning.

The Kirkpatrick Family Fund in Oklahoma City has announced the appointment of LIZ CHARLES as senior program officer. Charles previously served as executive director of the Oklahoma Women's Coalition, a statewide political organization working to build the collective power of Oklahomans to advance gender equity, where she engaged community partners, elected officials, and activists to promote policies aimed at dismantling systems of inequity and racism.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has announced the promotion of ASHLEY ZOHN to the position of vice president, learning and impact. Zohn joined the foundation in January 2019 and, in her new position, will lead its research efforts and impact assessment. She brings more than a decade of experience in the nonprofit, public, and private sectors to the position, including time at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where she was tasked with strengthening the agency's capacity for continuous improvement.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has announced the appointment of DEANNA HAGGAG as a program officer for arts and culture, effective May 17. Haggag has served as president and CEO of United States Artists since February 2017, during which time the organization increased the number of fellowships it awarded by 30 percent, established the $25,000 Berresford Prize (given annually to a cultural practitioner who has contributed significantly to the advancement, well-being, and care of artists), and worked with foundations and individual donors to launch such initiatives as Disability Futures, the Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship, and a $25 million Artist Relief Fund for artists impacted by COVID-19.

The Nellie Mae Education Foundation in Quincy, Massachusetts, has announced the election of CRISTINA JIMENEZ MORETA to its board. Jiménez Moreta is co-founder and former executive director of United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the United States. "Young people of color are facing unprecedented challenges, and the work of advancing racial equity in public education has never been more critical," she said in a statement. "In communities across New England, courageous young people are driving the change they want to see. I am thrilled to support them and continue the fight for a more just future for all young people with the Nellie Mae Education Foundation."

The Rockefeller Foundation has announced the appointment of RICK BRIGHT as senior vice president of pandemic prevention and response. In his new role, Bright, whose career includes stops at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, and PATH, will lead the foundation's efforts to partner with global public health emergency organizations and entities to develop a pandemic prevention institute. With the goal of averting future pandemics, the institute will work to identify and rapidly respond to disease outbreaks and stop the spread of infection in the first hundred days. In 2020, Bright resigned as HHS deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response and director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in protest over the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rockefeller Capital Management has announced the appointment of ANDREA LAWRENCE as the head of philanthropy within the Rockefeller Global Family Office.

Civic Nation, a nonprofit launched during Barack Obama's second term to support and continue the administration's education, gender equity, and civic participation initiatives, has announced the appointment of CECILIA MUNOZ, JOE PAULSEN, PETE ROUSE, and TINA TCHEN to its board and the election of VALERIE JARRETT as board chair. Jarrett currently serves as president of the Obama Foundation. Muñoz is a senior advisor at New America. Paulsen is a former aide to President Barack Obama. Rouse served as interim White House chief of staff in the Obama administration and as counselor to the president. And Tchen is president and CEO of Time's Up. Civic Nation also announced the appointment of KYLE LIERMAN as its CEO. Lierman previously ran When We All Vote, a voter registration group founded by former first lady Michelle Obama that will become a Civic Nation initiative.

And the Cleveland Museum of Art has announced the election of MANISHA AHUJA SETHI to its board. Sethi is a director of the Ahuja Foundation and a board member at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, an emeritus trustee of UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Foundation, and a former trustee of the Playhouse Square Foundation and Hathaway Brown School.