The Houston Endowment has announced that JESSE H. JONES II began a two-year term as chairman of its board of directors on January 1. Jones, who has served as a director since 2007 and is the grandnephew of Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones, has worked as an oil and gas banker and subsequently in radio broadcasting, where he headed a Houston-based radio station group. He is a former chair of the Houston Ballet Foundation and serves on the boards of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Crested Butte Center for the Arts, is a member of the UT Health Development Board, and is board chair of the Foundation for the Society for the Performing Arts.

The Fresno-based Central Valley Community Foundation has announced the addition of D.J. CRINER, BRANDON ESRAELIAN, DOUG MORGAN, and VIVIAN VELASCO PAZ to its board of directors.  Criner has served as pastor at Saint Rest Baptist Church since 2011 and chairs the board of Faith in Fresno, which advocates for social justice in the city and beyond; Esraelian is an associate attorney with the firm of Richardson, Jones & Esraelian; Morgan retired as COO after eighteen years at Fresno-based Duncan Enterprises and currently is completing his tenth year of service as a board member and treasurer at the Marjaree Mason Center, a nonprofit focusing on victims of domestic violence; and Paz, an attorney since 2007, has practiced employment law in Los Angeles and served as an assistant attorney general for State of Illinois and as assistant general counsel for the Agricultural Labor Relations Board in California.

The board of the Isaumu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum has announced the appointment of BRETT LITTMAN, currently executive director of The Drawing Center in New York City, as the museum’s new director. Littman, who will officially join the museum in May, will succeed JENNY DIXON, who led the institution from April 2003 until her retirement in December. In his ten-plus years at The Drawing Center, Littman presided over all aspects of the museum’s administration and programming, oversaw an $11 million capital campaign and building expansion, and curated numerous exhibitions. Prior to his tenure at the center, he was deputy director of MoMA P.S.1, co-executive director of Dieu Donné Papermill in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood, and associate director of UrbanGlass in Brooklyn. In 2017, Littman was awarded the title of Chevalier of the Order of the Arts and Letters by the French government.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music has announced the appointment of DAVID BINDER as artistic director, succeeding long-time executive producer JOSEPH V. MELILLO, who is stepping down in December 2018. As artistic director — a new title which signals the organization's intention to unite its curatorial streams — Binder will lead BAM's programming, including live performances, cinema programs, education and humanities initiatives, visual art events, digital projects, and artistic partnerships. Binder is a Tony Award-winning producer whose Broadway credits include Hedwig and the Angry Inch and a revival of A Raisin in the Sun, starring Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, and Audra McDonald; the Sydney Opera House production of This Is Our Youth with Michael Cera and Kieran Culkin; the High Line Festival, curated by David Bowie; and the Dutch New Island Festival, ten days of site-specific performance, music, theater, and dance from the Netherlands on New York’s Governors Island that included artists such as Anouk van Dijk, Armin van Buuren, and Ivo van Hove.

The board of directors of the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York City have announced the appointment of BILL RAUCH as the head of its artistic team. In that role, Rauch, an acknowledged leader in American theater, will work with the organization's board, president, and staff to plan for the downtown venue's opening season. Rauch joins The Perelman's leadership team following a twelve-year tenure as artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), where he led the festival in staging a record number of world premiere works and was credited with raising its profile. Prior to his tenure at OSF, Rauch co-founded the Cornerstone Theater Company, where he directed more than forty productions and served as its artistic director from 1986 to 2006. He also has directed a number of world premieres, including Naomi Wallace's Night Is a Room at New York's Signature Theatre; Dan O'Brien's The Body of an American at Portland Center Stage, and Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House at the Yale Repertory Theatre.

The Jewish Federation of Cleveland has announced that STEPHEN H. HOFFMAN, its president, intends to retire on December 31 after serving in that capacity since 1983. "Steve's impact on the Jewish community in Cleveland, Israel, and around the world cannot be overstated," said board chair Gary L. Gross. "During his tenure, he elevated every single facet of our work to enable us to anticipate the ever-changing needs of our community here and abroad through his deep commitment and compassion." A committee of the board, with the assistance of executive search professionals, will oversee the search for Hoffman's successor.

In other news, California governor Jerry Brown has appointed SANDRA R. HERNANDEZ, president and CEO of the California Health Care Foundation, to the board of Covered California, which works to make health coverage available and affordable to all Californians.