The Chicago-based Joyce Foundation has promoted GRETCHEN CROSBY SIMS to the position of vice president of programs. Sims, formerly the foundation's director of strategic initiatives and education program manager, earlier served as a domestic policy adviser for education and family issues to former presidential candidate Bill Bradley.

The California Wellness Foundation in Woodland Hills has announced the planned retirement of GARY L. YATES, its president and CEO, effective December 31, 2011. Yates, who has led the foundation since 1995, joined the staff of the foundation in 1992 (the year it was established) after more than twenty years in the fields of education, public health, and health care. He currently is assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Southern California School of Medicine and is a licensed marriage and family therapist.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri, has announced the appointment of ALEXIS GLICK as senior fellow. Glick, a veteran media personality and former Wall Street executive, currently is a strategic advisor to several well-known media and finance companies. She recently was appointed to the advisory council of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy.

Oklahoma City-based Feed The Children has named CASS WHEELER as its interim president. Wheeler, retired CEO of the American Heart Association, will serve as an independent consultant and advisor, splitting his time between FTC's headquarters and his home office in Austin, Texas. Travis Arnold will continue as interim CEO and permanent chief operating officer, leading day-to-day operations while Wheeler focuses on organizational and external issues such as transparency, mission, and the search for a permanent president. Wheeler will report to Arnold and the organization's board.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in Menlo Park, California, has announced the appointment of PATRICIA HOUSE to its board. House, founding vice chair and senior vice president of strategy at C3, a provider of energy and emissions management software, was also a co-founder of the software company Siebel Systems and held managerial and executive positions at Verbatim, Oracle, and Frame Technology. She currently serves as board chair of the Mary Mae Foundation.

In other news, the Minnesota Council on Foundations has announced the elections of its board officers and directors for 2011. The newly announced officers are KAREN KELLEY-ARIWOOLA (chair), vice president of community philanthropy at the Minneapolis Foundation; KATE WOLFORD (vice chair), president of the McKnight Foundation; GEORGE THOMPSON (secretary), a trustee of the Minnesota Community Foundation and the St. Paul Foundation; and NANCY NELSON (treasurer), vice president and chief actuary at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation. New directors elected to three-year terms are KIM EMBRETSON, vice president of fund development at West Central Initiative; KAYLA YANG-BEST, director of the Cargill Foundation and Cargill, Inc.; and JIM HOOLIHAN, president/CEO of the Blandin Foundation. Directors elected to second three-year terms are Ms. Wolford, Ms. Nelson, and Mr. Thompson; SHERRY RISTAU, president and CEO of the Southwest Initiative Foundation; and CAROLYN ROBY, vice president of Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota.