The John R. Oishei Foundation in Buffalo, New York, has announced the appointment of CHRISTINA P. ORSI as president, effective January 24, 2022. The first woman to hold that position in the foundation’s eighty-year history currently serves as associate vice president in the Office of Economic Development at the University at Buffalo, where she helps businesses and other community partners connect with UB researchers and resources, stewarding more than $100 million in grants. Prior to joining UB, Orsi provided strategic direction for the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council and played an integral role in New York State’s Buffalo Billion economic development plan. She succeeds ROBERT D. GIOIA, who is retiring after fifteen years of service.

The Open Society Foundations has announced the appointment of YAMIDE DAGNET to the newly created position of director for climate justice. Dagnet previously served as the director of climate negotiations at the World Resources Institute, where she focused on the equitable implementation of the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and co-founded Allied for Climate Transformation by 2025, a consortium working to amplify the voice and priorities of vulnerable countries and communities and convene key stakeholders to guide just outcomes in UN climate negotiations.

The Kenneth Rainin Foundation has announced the election of two new board members to three-year terms that began in November. MOY ENG, CEO of Community Arts Stabilization Trust, is a longtime philanthropic and nonprofit leader who began her career at the Mertz-Gilmore Foundation and later directed the arts program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. DASHIELL (DASH) PATTERSON is the grandson of Kenneth Rainin and has been a junior board member since 2016.

The Walton Family Foundation has named AMY SALTZMAN as a senior program officer for the Mississippi River initiative, which is aimed at supporting healthy soils, clean water, and a restored and resilient Mississippi River system. Saltzman, who has managed grants focused on agricultural conservation and climate resilience in the upper Mississippi River basin as well as federal agricultural policy since 2016, will now lead the team on its next five-year strategic plan. Before joining the foundation, she served as a senior program analyst at the International Food Policy Research Institute’s HarvestPlus program.

The American Council on Education has announced the election of Virginia Commonwealth University president MICHAEL RAO as board chair. Rao, who currently serves as board vice chair, will begin his one-year term in March 2022, succeeding RONALD A. CRUTCHER, president emeritus of the University of Richmond. Baylor University president LINDA A. LIVINGSTONE was elected board vice chair.

Ballet Hispánico has announced the appointment of TAMIA B. SANTANA as chief engagement and inclusion officer, effective immediately. Santana is founder and former executive director of Brooklyn Dance Festival, co-founder of Jeté Dance Center, and a resident director of the Brooklyn Museum’s Brooklyn Dance Festival Concert series. In her new role, she will be responsible for strategizing and expanding on Ballet Hispánico’s signature Community Arts Partnerships program to create new avenues of engagement as a community advocate, enhance and strengthen the organization’s brand and influence, and build enduring partnerships with schools, performance venues, cultural organizations, and universities.

Nonprofit software provider Benetech has announced the appointment of AYAN KISHORE as CEO. A leader in technology for social impact and international development, Kishore most recently at Creative Associates International, where he directed digital social innovation with a focus on global literacy and peacebuilding. He succeeds interim chief executive CHRISTY CHIN, who has served as board chair since 2014 and will remain on the board. KEVIN LO, who has served on the board for five years, has been appointed board chair.

BoardSource has announced that ANNE WALLESTAD will be stepping down from her position in June 2022 after nearly ten years as president and CEO. Under Wallestad’s leadership, BoardSource has grown from an organization primarily focused on meeting the technical support needs of individual boards to a more complex organization that combines providing technical support for boards with advocating for necessary change in social sector board leadership.

Commonfund has announced the election of DOUGLAS T. BREEDEN as board chair, effective January 21. Breeden is the William W. Priest Professor of Finance and former dean of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and also has served on faculties at Chicago Booth and Stanford University and was the Fischer Black Visiting Professor at MIT Sloan. He will succeed ROBERT B. LITTERMAN, who served as chair for seven years and will remain on the board.

The National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders has announced that its president and CEO, MARLA BILONICK, has been appointed as chair of the Community Development Advisory Board for the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. The first Latinx individual and the second woman to chair the advisory board since its inception in 1994, Bilonick will serve a four-year term leading the fifteen-member board, which includes the secretaries of the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, and Treasury and the administrator of the Small Business Administration.

The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has announced the appointment of DENISE SCOTT as president. Scott, who joined LISC in 2001, has served as executive vice president for programs since 2014, overseeing thirty-nine local program offices and nine national programs. She previously served as executive director of LISC New York City and currently serves as chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. LISC board member LISA GLOVER, who has served as interim CEO since February, will continue to lead the organization in that role. Glover previously held leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Housing Coordination. Scott and Glover are the first women to hold the top leadership positions at LISC.

The National Philanthropic Trust has announced the election of two new members to its board: MANISH SHAH and DAVID WEZDENKO. Shah is senior vice president and chief information officer at Community Health Systems. Wezdenko is co-founder and CEO of Blue Leaf Ventures, a micro venture capital investment and advisory firm.

The NHP Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit real estate corporation that has invested nearly $1.2 billion in the preservation of affordable housing since 1989, has announced the election of CHARU SINGH and GRACE TORRES to its board. Singh is a real estate investor and strategist, currently with Emergent Capital Partners; she previously worked in the nonprofit sector and with the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Torres is a financial executive with more than thirty years of experience in the mutual funds and asset management business and currently serves on the boards of the Prudential Retail Mutual Funds complex, OceanFirst Financial Corp., and its wholly owned bank, OceanFirst Bank N.A.

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute has announced that HAROLD I. FELDMAN will join the organization as its first deputy executive director for patient-centered research programs, effective July 1, 2022. A nephrologist and epidemiologist, Feldman currently holds several leadership positions at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, including director and senior scholar at the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, director emeritus of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, George S. Pepper Professor of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, and senior fellow at the Center for Public Health Initiatives. In his new role, Feldman will work closely with PCORI’s leaders and staff to improve the quality and relevance of evidence available to help patients, caregivers, clinicians, employers, insurers, and policy makers make better-informed health decisions.

The San Antonio Museum of Art has announced the appointment of EMILY BALLEW NEFF as director, effective January 18. Neff most recently served as the executive director of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, where she spearheaded the effort to relocate the museum to downtown Memphis to enhance its role within the city’s civic and cultural core. She previously served as the director and chief curator at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma and as founding curator of American painting and sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.