The Ford Foundation has hired KATHY REICH to direct BUILD, a new foundation initiative aimed at supporting the sustainability, vitality, and effectiveness of organizations and networks that are critical to broader social movements. Currently director of organizational effectiveness and philanthropy at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Reich earlier served as policy director at the Social Policy Action Network, as a legislative assistant to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and as a policy adviser to then-Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis of California.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation has announced the promotion of MEREDITH BLAIR PEARLMAN to the position of evaluation and learning manager. In that position, Pearlman, in partnership with Chris DeCardy, vice president and director of programs, will manage the foundation’s evaluation and learning team, providing direct consultation and technical assistance to ensure that assessment and evaluation enrich the foundation’s impact.

The McKnight Foundation has hired JULIA OLMSTEAD as Mississippi River program officer, effective May 9. Since 2013, Olmstead has served as coordinator for the Farmer-Led Watershed Council Project for the University of Wisconsin-Extension, where she designed, launched, and managed a multi-stakeholder agriculture water quality collaborative. Prior to that, she spent four years as senior associate for the rural communities program at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis and also worked as a news writer for NBC Bay Area News in San Jose, California.

The Council on Foundations has announced the election of TONYA ALLEN, president and CEO of the Skillman Foundation, JAMIE MERISOTIS, president and CEO of the Lumina Foundation, TONY MESTRES, president and CEO of the Seattle Foundation, and R. RANDALL ROYSTER, president and CEO of the Albuquerque Community Foundation, to three-year terms on its board.  The council also announced that STEPHANIE BELL-ROSE, senior managing director and head of the TIAA Institute, will serve for a second three-year term.

The Center for Disaster Philanthropy has announced the election of KENNETH M. JONES II, KATHLEEN E. LOEHR, and SAM WORTHINGTON to its board of directors. Jones is CFO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which he joined in 2008. Prior to that, he served as CFO of Danya International, a public health and education organization, and Jhpiego, a nonprofit international health affiliate of Johns Hopkins University, and before that held corporate finance positions at Ford Motor, Pfizer, Mirant and Prudential. Loehr, CEO of Kathleen Loehr & Associates, a philanthropic and leadership practice based in Alexandria, Virginia, has worked with the President’s Council of Cornell Women, the American Red Cross, Duke University, Drexel University, the University of San Francisco, William & Mary, McGill University, and National Geographic. Worthington, CEO of InterAction, the largest U.S. alliance of nongovernmental international organizations, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; serves on the advisory committee for Voluntary Foreign Assistance (ACVFA) at USAID and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) at the UN; and sits on the boards of the Van Leer Group Foundation, CIVICUS, and the Alliance to End Hunger.

The Aspen Institute has announced that JAMES S. CROWN has been elected chairman for a three-year term, effective immediately. Crown, who had been serving as the board’s vice chair, will take over from ROBERT K. STEEL, who served in the position for eight years. Crown is the president of Henry Crown and Company, a privately owned company that invests in public and private securities, real estate and operating companies, and serves as lead director of the General Dynamics Corp. and as a director of JPMorgan Chase. Aspen also announced the election of seven new trustees: WILLIAM BYNUM, TROY CARTER, PENNY COULTER, ARNE DUNCAN, ANTONIO GRACIAS, KAYA HENDERSON, and CARRIE WALTON PENNER.

In other news, PND notes the passing of ANDREW SWINNEY, former president of the Philadelphia Foundation, of ALS at the age of 67. Swinney, who retired last June 30 after sixteen years at the helm of the foundation, had been ill for a year, Philly.com reports. Under Swinney’s leadership, the foundation's assets grew from $148 million in 1998 to $370 million, while the number of its component charitable funds more than quadrupled. "Andrew did a superb job as president of the Philadelphia Foundation for sixteen years," said Lawrence J. Beaser, chair of the foundation's board of managers. "He was widely respected not just in greater Philadelphia, but as a national community foundation leader. His dedicated service enriched the quality of life for many throughout the region, as he tirelessly promoted funding and support for the nonprofit sector."