Kenneth Rainin Foundation Names First Executive Director

Shelley Trott will serve as its first executive director. She will oversee grantmaking and operations at the $609 million foundation in Oakland.

Trott has worked there for 15 years and most recently was its chief program officer. She will report to Jen Rainin, its CEO and daughter of the late Kenneth Rainin, the founder of the Rainin Instrument Company.

David Harris has been promoted from executive vice president to president and CEO of this education group that boosts outcomes for students from historically marginalized communities. He starts his new role on September 1.

He will succeed Bart Peterson, who is retiring after five years at the helm.

Nneka Ogwumike will now lead this nonprofit organization started by the basketball star LeBron James to protect voting rights in Black communities. Ahead of the presidential election in November, the charity will also focus on women’s issues and reproductive rights.

Ogwumike is a player on the Seattle Storm women’s basketball team and president of the WNBPA, the WNBA players’ union.

Mary-Ann Etiebet has been selected as the next president and CEO of this global public-health organization. She has served on its Board of Trustees since 2021.

She joins the group from the pharmaceutical company Merck, where she was most recently associate vice president for health equity.

Trent Aldridge has been promoted from chief program officer to CEO of Self Enhancement, a youth-development organization for African American teenagers and their families in the Portland, Ore., metropolitan area. Aldridge succeeds Tony Hopson Sr., who is departing after 43 years there.

Tim Coetzee has been promoted from chief advocacy, services, and science officer to president and CEO of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Brian Lawrence was promoted to CEO of the Seattle Public Library Foundation. He has worked there since 2017 and was most recently its deputy executive director.

Patrick Spero has been appointed CEO of the American Philosophical Society. A scholar of the American Revolution, he previously served as director of the organization’s library and museum from 2015 to 2023.

Patricia Arroyo, supervising social worker at Safe Horizon, has been appointed program director for Hope House at the Urban Resource Institute. In addition, Angel Guzman has been promoted from director of clinical services to program director at Family Pathways, the group’s program to support survivors of domestic violence.

Reginald Ballard, chief of staff at the Little Rock School District, in Arkansas, will now serve as vice president for policy and communications at the NEA Foundation. In addition, Ebony English, senior program officer at the Penn Foundation, has been hired as vice president for programs.

Kristen Barrett, director of development at the School of American Ballet, is now vice president of development at the arts and culture group New 42.

Lesley Bourns has been promoted from vice president of international programs to senior vice president of international social impact at Sesame Workshop.

Brian Cowart, chief development and marketing officer at the United Service Organizations, is now chief development officer at the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.

Elizabeth Dale, an associate professor of nonprofit leadership at Seattle University and director of its nonprofit leadership programs, now holds the Frey Foundation Chair for Family Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University’s Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy.

Briana Joyner has joined the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota as executive vice president of people and culture. Most recently she was interim executive director of the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center.

Kayla Roney Smith has been promoted to director of national K-12 education at Ballmer Group. Previously she was a senior portfolio manager for the grant maker’s Southeast Michigan regional team.

Laura Sheppard is now director of community impact and engagement at the Morehead-Cain Foundation. She was previously a senior director at Corporate Education Resources, a consulting firm in Southlake, Tex.

Jodie Snyder, major-gifts officer at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County, has been appointed senior director of philanthropy at the Jewish Federation of Orange County.

Heather Templeton Dill will step down after 10 years as president and CEO of the John Templeton Foundation in June 2025. She is the granddaughter of the $3 billion grant maker’s founder.

Connie Harris, CEO of the Solano Community Foundation since 2014, will retire at the end of this month. She has worked at the $10 million community fund in California since 2001.

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