The Vilcek Foundation in New York City has announced RICK KINSEL as its new president. Kinsel, who has been with the foundation since its inception in 2000, is being promoted from the position of executive director, in which role he oversaw several expansions of the foundation's staff, programs, and mission. As ED, Kinsel helped establish the Vilcek Prizes, the organization’s flagship program, in 2006, and led the implementation of the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise, which were created in 2009 to support emerging foreign-born artists and scientists. Under his leadership, the foundation also expanded its activities to include the management of JAN and MARICA VILCEKS' art collections, which have been promised to the foundation. "Rick has been with us since the Vilcek Foundation was just an idea," said Jan Vilcek."And it was his exceptional vision, continual hard work, and demonstrated leadership that turned that idea into a reality."

The New York City-based Simons Foundation has announced that MARLOW KEE joined its leadership team in September as chief financial officer. In that role, Kee, who brings thirty-plus years of financial and management experience in nonprofit organizations to the foundation, will be responsible for overseeing the foundation's finance, facilities and human resources department and will help develop strategies to support new research initiatives. Before joining the foundation, Kee served as executive director of finance at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; as CFO of PATH, an international nongovernmental organization with a health and technology focus; as CFO at the University of Washington School of Medicine; and as executive director of the Department of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.

The James Irvine Foundation has named TIM RECKER as its new chief investment officer, succeeding current JOHN JENKS, who will retire in January after more than fourteen years of service. Recker currently serves as the managing director for private equity and real assets at the Regents of the University of California, where he leads a team of ten people managing a $9 billion portfolio. Before joining UC Regents, Recker served as director of alternative investments for the State of Michigan Retirement Systems, where he oversaw a $13 billion portfolio.

The Weingart Foundation in Los Angeles has welcomed two members to its team: program officer VANESSA VELA LOVELACE and administrative program assistant JHERIKA MARTIN. Vale comes to the foundation with fifteen years of experience in the nonprofit sector, most recently as director of programs with CDTech, which focuses on civic engagement and economic justice in South Los Angeles and surrounding communities. Martin has worked in administration and project management for a number of nonprofits in Southern California, most recently as a program and administrative assistant at Maryvale, which provides mental health and supportive services to struggling and at-risk children and families.

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation has announced the appointment of BRIAN R. LARKIN as an assistant program officer on its Flint Area grantmaking team. A native of Flint and graduate of Morehouse and Florida State University, where he earned a master's in urban and regional planning, Larkin worked for several Michigan nonprofits before being named director of planning and development for the City of Flint in 2015.

The Oakland-based Sierra Club Foundation, the 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor of the Sierra Club, the nation's largest grassroots environmental organization, has announced DAN CHU as its new executive director, succeeding PETER MARTIN, who led the foundation for eight years. Chu previously served as senior director of the Sierra Club's Our Wild America national campaign, in which role he worked to protect wild lands and wildlife, keep dirty fuels in the ground, and engage families and kids in exploring and protecting nature. Prior to joining the Sierra Club, Chu served as the National Wildlife Federation’s vice president for Affiliate and Regional Strategies.

Oakland-based MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba) has announced NASSIM ASSEFI M.D., as its new executive director. Assefi, a board-certified internist, most recently was the director of stage content for TEDMED, the health and medicine edition of the TED conference.

The Calvert Foundation in Baltimore has added two new members to its board of directors: PHIL KIRSHMAN, chief investment officer at Cornerstone Capital Investment Management, and JAIME YORDAN, a former vice chairman at Citigroup. They join DECKER ROLPH, an early-stage business and finance executive and investor, and ARON BETRU, managing director of the Center for Financial Markets at the Milken Institute, who joined the board earlier this year. The foundation also announced that board member SHARI BERENBACH, a former CEO of the Calvert Foundation and, more recently, president and CEO of the U.S. Africa Development Foundation, passed away earlier this year, and that PEGGY CLARK, a founding board member of the foundation, resigned as of September and is being honored as a director emerita.

LAURIE GABRIEL has accepted an appointment to the board of trustees of the Cummings Foundation, a thirty-year-old operating foundation in Woburn, Massachusetts, the Conway (NH) Daily Sun reports. Gabriel, a former managing partner at Boston-based Wellington Management Co., will also serve on the foundation's finance committee.

In other news, the Cleveland Foundation has announced that executive vice president ROBERT E. ECKHARDT will retire, after nearly thirty-five years with the organization, at the end of the year. Eckhardt joined the foundation in 1982, spent a few years as a program officer for social service programs related to aging and public health, and then rose through a series of positions with more responsibility, including senior program officer, manager of programs and evaluation, and vice president for programs and evaluation, before becoming executive vice president. "It has been my honor and pleasure to work with Bob over the last thirteen years, and I credit him with much of what I have learned in my time here about grantmaking, community service, and the history of our great foundation," said Ronn Richard, president and CEO of the foundation. "Bob has helped to build and support a team of talented, visionary, and passionate program colleagues who will carry out his work and his legacy as part of the transition. His contributions are incredibly valued across the foundation, by members of the board of directors and, of course, within our community and throughout the philanthropic sector."