FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media contact: Emily Giudice, Communications Coordinator: 617-492-0800 x281
March 5, 2014
Cambridge, MA—The Center for Effective Philanthropy has elected Hilary Pennington, Fay Twersky, and Lynn Perry Wooten to its Board of Directors, effective May 1, 2014.
“Fay, Lynn, and Hilary are each exceptional people who will add an extraordinary breadth of expertise to our board,” said CEP President Phil Buchanan.
Hilary Pennington is the Vice President of the Ford Foundation’s Education, Creativity and Free Expression program. Pennington leads the foundation’s work on school reform in the United States and higher education around the world, next-generation media policy and journalism, and support for arts and culture. She also oversees the foundation’s grantmaking in philanthropy as well as its regional programming in four offices based in Africa and the Middle East.
Pennington previously served as director of education, postsecondary success and special initiatives at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and president and CEO of Jobs for the Future, a research and policy development organization she co-founded.
Fay Twersky is the director of the Effective Philanthropy Group at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, where she overseas cross-foundation strategy support, evaluation and organization learning as well as grantmaking in support of organizational effectiveness and a strong philanthropic sector.
Twersky has an extensive background working in program design and evaluation, and has served as an advisor at Yad Hanadiv (the Rothschild Family Foundation) on issues of strategy, organization and measurement, and as a director and member of the leadership team of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she designed and developed their Impact Planning & Improvement division. She was also a founding principal of BTW – Informing Change, a strategic consulting firm, and has been a long-serving member of CEP’s Advisory Board.
Lynn Perry Wooten is Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Clinical Associate Professor of Strategy and Management & Organizations at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. In her role as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs at the Ross School of Business, she is responsible for developing and implementing transformational educational experiences for Ross undergraduate students inside and outside of the classroom through curricular initiatives, academic advising, student life activities, and leadership development. Prior to this role, she was the Co-Director of the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship at the Ross School of Business.
Lynn’s current research bridges theory and practice and focuses on positive organizing routines, diversity management practices, and crisis leadership. Through her applied research projects, she has worked with many organizations including Whirlpool, Google, General Motors, Michigan Nonprofit Association, Executive Leadership Institute, Trinity Health, Michigan Department of State, and General Dynamics. Also, Lynn is a Scholar-in-Residence at the Council of Michigan Foundations.
“We are extremely fortunate to welcome these new additions to an already very high functioning Board of Directors,” said Buchanan. “Fay has been a close colleague over the years, serving as co-founder of CEP’s YouthTruth initiative. Hilary is a widely respected leader in the sector who has experience on both sides of the foundation table. And Lynn brings a deep knowledge and expertise in both change management and marketing and worked with us last year leading a workshop with our assessment tool clients.”
Twersky, Pennington, and Wooten will join a Board of Directors whose other members include: M. Christine DeVita, former president of The Wallace Foundation; Crystal Hayling, principal at C2 Projects; Tiffany Cooper Gueye, CEO of BELL; Kathryn Merchant, president and CEO of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation; Grant Oliphant, president and CEO of The Pittsburgh Foundation; Christy Pichel, president of the Stuart Foundation; Nadya Shmavonian, independent consultant to foundations and nonprofits; Vince Stehle, executive director of Media Impact Funders; and Anne Warhover, president and CEO of the Colorado Health Foundation. Buchanan also serves as a Director.
About the Center for Effective Philanthropy
The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide data and create insight so philanthropic funders can better define, assess, and improve their effectiveness and impact. CEP received initial funding in 2001 and has offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts and San Francisco, California. For more information on CEP’s work, including its research, programming, and assessment tools, see www.cep.org.