People in Philanthropy 8/23

OTTO BREMER TRUST – The staff rotation at Otto Bremer continues with two more staff departures.Regional Director Dominic Papatola will leave Otto Bremer Trust on September 1. He will continue to work with current applicants and grantees through his departure date. Did you know Dominic has been a social commentator at MPR and PBS. Check out his weekly comments at PBS. Dominic will be the Chief Impact Officer at Community Giving, a fast growing St. Cloud-based community foundation support organization which works with more than 10 community foundations from St. Cloud to Carver County. Watch these guys, they’re growing fast and will soon be a major player in Minnesota philanthropy.Besides Dom, Elyse Coleman, another senior program officer at Bremer has left the Trust to join the Medica Foundation, directed by one of my faves, JoAnn Birkholz.Another fave, Bremer’s veteran Regional Director, Lue Her has assumed the role of Director of Philanthropy. If you have questions about your grant or request, write to Lue. Lue can be a tough interrogator, but he’s really very good. Help him help you.Here’s the list of current Program Officers from the OBT website.

• ERIC ANTONSON, Program Officer, 651-312-3716, eantonson@ottobremer.org
• LUE HER, Regional Director, 651-312-3531, lher@ottobremer.org
• LISA KESKE, Program Officer, 651-312-3526, lkeske@ottobremer.org
• KABAO XIONG, Program Officer, 651-414-4917, kxiong@ottobremer.org

EWING MARION KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION - DeAngela Burns-Wallace, Ed.D., has been named the next CEO and president of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. A native of Kansas City, Dr. Burns-Wallace began her career as a diplomat working for the U.S. State Department, including assignments in China, South Africa, and Washington D.C. She then shifted to higher education, and most recently served on Governor Laura Kelly's cabinet as Secretary of Administration and the Chief Information Technology Officer.WILSON FOUNDATION – Jean Sazevich will become the first Executive Director at Wilson Foundation, a new (2021) MN foundation founded by John R. Wilson, CEO of the cell and gene therapy manufacturing company Wilson Wolf.  Jean has been the Executive Director of The Sheltering Arms Foundation, a Program Officer with The Pohlad Family Foundation, and a Philanthropic Advisor with The Minneapolis Foundation.JEROME FOUNDATION – Practically new Jerome Foundation CEO, Eleanor Savage is welcoming new staff

• Truc Anh (TA) Kieu Program Officer, formerly with Borealis
• Kristen Marx Program Officer, formerly with McKnight & Walker Art
• Felix Foster Grants/Program Administrator, formerly with TC Pride
• Also, Melissa Levin, who’s been with the foundation for more than a year is now the Program Officer for New York City

MARGARET CARGILL – Elizabeth Hutchinson Kruger has been promoted to Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies’ (MACP) Director, Evaluation and Organizational Learning. In this position, Elizabeth (Lizz) will manage the Evaluation and Organizational Learning team and lead department activities to help ensure the ongoing development of equitable evaluation and learning practices. She joined MACP in 2014 as an evaluator.LUMINA FOUNDATION – Paola Santana is leaving the position of strategy officer for state policy at Lumina Foundation, to become executive director of California’s Glendale College Foundation. Lumina is one of the few foundations interested in higher education access policy.BLANDIN FOUNDATION  – Jason Edens begins his role as Director of Rural Advocacy – Advocacy Director – at Blandin Foundation this month. He will guide the Foundation’s public policy and communications activities. This is a new role at Blandin and in fact, a new type of role for rural foundations. Jason used to teach at Bemidji State and started the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance.SECURIAN FINANCIAL FOUNDATION – More changes at Securian Financial Foundation: The brand new (May 2023) Chief Diversity Officer Tariq Malik is also assuming the primary leadership role at the foundation. Kate Mayer, a community relations consultant (and Open Arms board member) will be leading the day-to-day operations of both the Foundation and its community engagement activities. Next deadline is October 1st,GHR FOUNDATION – Tenzin Tseten is the new Program Associate for the Local domain group (administrative coordination, grantmaking, documentation, and partnerships for the Local team) at GHR Foundation. Most recently, Tenzin was a grant manager for the Wisconsin Fast Forward program, managing workforce development grants.Doris Duke Foundation welcomes New Arts Program Director: Ashley Ferro-Murray, an expert in experiential media and performing artsHEWLETT FOUNDATION – Larry Kramer, Hewlett’s CEO (and Stanford Law dean emeritus) is stepping down as Hewlett Foundation President. No new guy named yet. Larry created a whole new area of philanthropy when he made cybersecurity as one of the foundation’s primary interest areas.BETTER WAY FOUNDATION – Somehow we missed this one. Nick Banovetz, an old acquaintance from MINNCAN and Great Minnesota Schools is now the Executive director of Better Way Foundation, one of the Rauenhorst (Opus, Enkel, GHR) family of funds. The foundation is mostly interested in indigenous communities in the Upper Midwest (especially children) and some work in Tanzania.SURDNA FOUNDATION – Jonathan Goldberg, who became Vice President of Learning & Impact at the Surdna Foundation in January has a growing influence on national progressive philanthropy. Get to know him.LISC – Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has named Michael T. Pugh as its new chief executive officer. Pugh has 30 years of banking experience, most recently as president and CEO of Carver Bancorp.WALTON FAMILY FOUNDATION – Inside Philanthropy has a “five things to know…” article about the new CEO of the Walton Family Foundation, Stephanie Dodson Cornell who used to serve as Managing Director at the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, a venture philanthropy firm supporting early-stage, high-impact social enterprises.GLOBAL FUND FOR WOMEN – Zahra Vieneuve has moved up at Global Fund for Women from Director of Philanthropic Partnerships to VP, Global Partnerships.SCHMIDT FUTURES – Eric Braverman is leaving as CEO of Schmidt Futures to pursue a new venture with co-owner Eric Schmidt. He’s being replaced by. Elizabeth Young McNally, the EVP of talent ventures, and Stu Feldman, the group's chief scientist, are stepping in as co-CEOs of the philanthropic initiative co-founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt. The foundation has become a major influencer in tech philanthropy.Why are these changes are important?

• First, Eric Braverman is/was one of the national philanthropy leaders in machine learning is stepping back. His new efforts with Eric Schmidt will allow the foundation to expand into new areas.
• Second, because the Erics will be closely tied and tightly involved in the new (Telescope) project, there will be more room for the other co-founder Wendy Schmidt to create new funding interest areas. That’s really big.
• Third, Elizabeth and Stu are very different people with very different perspectives on philanthropy than the Erics. Elizabeth comes from McKinsey and Stu comes with an MIT doctorate. But he’s also board chair of the national group for minorities and disabled people in IT. We think things will change.