Hanh Cao Yu, Ph.D. is the California Endowment’s new chief learning officer. Dr. Yu is very experienced in the nonprofit sector, having partnered with over 40 different philanthropic organizations and leading over 20 projects throughout her career. Yu’s most recent position was at the Oakland, CA-based Social Policy and Research (SPR) Associates, where she served as SPR’s vice president as well as its division director of philanthropy, equity and youth. During her 20-year tenure at SPR, Yu became known for her expertise in the areas of organizational effectiveness, school reform, multicultural education, intergroup relations, and vulnerable, immigrant populations. Prior to her time at SPR, Yu worked at the San Francisco Foundation and published numerous research studies in peer-reviewed education and youth development-focused journals. As an undergraduate, she earned a bachelor’s degree in finance economics from the University of Southern California. She subsequently got accepted to Stanford University, where she obtained her Ph.D. in education administration and policy analysis which has enabled her long and productive career. “Dr. Yu has a stellar record leading large-scale evaluations of complex philanthropic initiatives, along with creating and facilitating strong learning communities and knowledge sharing among boards, staff, grantee partners and diverse community members,” said Robert K. Ross, M.D., president and CEO of The California Endowment in the news release about the announcement. “We are honored to have her join our executive leadership team, as she brings a combination of brilliance and commitment that will benefit our entire organization.”
The Helios Education Foundation has recently appointed Vince Yanez as its vice president of Arizona Latino student success where he will help senior vice president and chief impact officer, Linda Thompson, lead the implementation of the foundation’s college/career ready and postsecondary education investment strategies in Arizona. Yanez, whose education includes bachelor’s degrees in government and Spanish from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in social work from Arizona State University, has been serving as executive director for education and public policy at the Arizona Community Foundation (ACF) since 2013. In this role he managed ACF’s large college scholarship program and its School Tuition Organization, which distributes private school scholarships to disadvantaged and otherwise high-need K-12 students. He also oversaw all of ACF’s strategic education grantmaking and worked on numerous public policy initiatives. Before his time at ACF, Yanez served as executive director for the Arizona State Board of Education for nine years after first joining the State Board of Education staff in 1997 and working his way up. Vince Yanez has dedicated his entire career to bettering the education of Arizona’s children and will continue to do so at the Helios Education Foundation with a particular focus on the needs of disadvantaged Latino students. In the press release accompanying the announcement, the Foundation’s President and CEO, Paul Luna affirmed his backing of Yanez: “Helios cares about all students and we are invested in the success of every student, but we also recognize that Arizona’s changing demographics make it imperative that we work to close the Latino student achievement gap in this State. Vince will help drive the Foundation’s strategies toward meeting that goal.”
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) announced the election of Peter Nadosy as chair of the foundation’s board of trustees. In addition to his chairmanship of the board, he will also serve as chair of the Duke Farms Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. After graduating from Harvard and then obtaining an MBA from Columbia Business School, Nadosy started out at the Fiduciary Trust of New York, where he worked for almost 11 years. Nadosy then got a job at Morgan Stanley, where he would ultimately spend most of his career. He joined the company in 1981 and becoming a managing director by 1984. Rising quickly through the ranks, by the next year he was named president of Morgan Stanley Asset Management and eventually vice chairman by 1995. In 1998, he stepped down and became an advisory director and served the firm in a consulting capacity for around ten years while pursuing other ventures. One of these other ventures would eventually become East End Advisors, LLC, a New York-based investment advisory firm that Nadosy co-founded in 2008. Currently, Nadosy is an advisory director for Soros Fund Management and a board member for both the Charles Dana Foundation and the Ford Foundation. An investment guru at heart, he is also a member of the investment committees of the Altman Foundation, the Brearley School, the Summit Foundation and the Weizmann Global Endowment. In his new position, Peter Nadosy will oversee DDCF’s $1.8 billion endowment to the benefit of performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being. “Doris Duke left a legacy and directives which the trustees and staff have fulfilled magnificently,” said Nadosy. “I am honored to continue this work, through the grant programs and properties, to improve people’s lives.”
James S. Crown has been elected as the Aspen Institute Board of Trustees’ new chairman. He replaces outgoing chairman, Robert K. Steel, who served in the position with great distinction for eight years as he oversaw a period of extensive growth and expansion of the Institute’s public programs. Crown is the current president of Henry Crown & Company (HCC), a private investment firm founded by his grandfather, Henry Crown, in 1959. James Crown has led HCC since 2002, when he took over the position after serving as the company’s vice president since 1985. Although it’s his family company, Crown did not begin his career there. Already in upper management early on, he served as a vice president of Salomon Brothers Inc. from 1983 to 1985 and also as vice president of the Capital Markets Service Group since 1983. Furthermore, and perhaps what he is most known for, Mr. Crown has been a director of General Dynamics Corporation since 1987 and its Lead Director since May 2010. Hillshire Farms has also benefited from his leadership as he served as an independent director for the corporation from 1998 to 2012, having been promoted to lead independent director during the final year of his work there. Always staying busy, Mr. Crown is also a trustee for the University of Chicago Medical Center, the Museum of Science and Industry and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Crown attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1976. He then moved to California, graduating with a law degree from Stanford Law School four years later while having been the projects editor for the prestigious Stanford Law Review. At the age of 62, James S. Crown has held numerous leadership positions in several sectors of the economy and will no doubt seek to use this breadth of experience to help lead the Aspen Institute in shaping its future.
The Ford Foundation also named Kathy Reich as director for Effort to Strengthen Institutions and Networks. This new foundation initiative signifies the Ford Foundation’s renewed focus on supporting and sustaining social movements. Reich is well-suited to this task as she joins the foundation from a 15-year stint at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, most recently serving as director of organizational effectiveness and philanthropy after beginning as a policy analyst and then program officer for early education programs. Before her time with the Packard Foundation, she was a policy director for the Social Policy Action Network, a legislative assistant to US Senator Dianne Feinstein and a policy adviser to then-Lieutenant Governor of Gray Davis of California. With a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University and a master in public policy from Harvard University, Reich’s own educational background is impressive and launched her on the career path of philanthropy and social justice early on. “I’m thrilled and honored to join the Ford Foundation at a time when addressing political, social, and economic inequality around the world has never felt more urgent,” said Reich. “Strengthening institutions that fight inequality is key to fostering just, inclusive, and sustainable societies, in the US and around the world. It’s a true privilege for me to take on this role, and I’m grateful to the Ford Foundation for the opportunity.”
The Ford Foundation recently announced the appointment of John Irons, Ph.D. as director of Inclusive Economies, a role in which he will oversee the foundation’s efforts in addressing inequality and ensuring inclusive economic opportunity and growth. Dr. Irons comes to Ford Foundation from the Rockefeller Foundation, where he worked as a managing director. An economist by trade, Irons joined the Rockefeller Foundation after serving as the research and policy director for the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC and as director of tax and budget policy at the Center for American Progress. His career in economics also includes a stint as an economic analyst at OMB Watch, a nonprofit focused on the causes of government accountability and civic engagement. Irons also taught economics as an assistant professor at Amherst College. His own education background includes a bachelor’s degree in economics from Swarthmore College and Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was a National Science Foundation graduate fellow. With his education, numerous works published in leading scholarly journals on a range of economic topics and an impressive career path, John Irons, Ph.D. definitely knows a thing or two about the economy. “We are thrilled to welcome John to the foundation as we work to address inequality in all its forms,” said Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation in a press release. “He brings an academic’s heft but also the wisdom of practice and a social justice perspective. He will be an incredible addition to our global inclusive economies team.”