Loading...

NPT People: April
NPT People: April

Shawn Blackwood

Shawn Blackwood is the new chief operations officer of TSNE Mission Works in Boston, Mass. Blackwood joined TSNE with 15 years’ experience as a senior manager and director with John Hancock Financial Services.

Blackwood led the development and operations of new business products and managed services, and orchestrated the growth of one of the company’s most diverse teams.

In addition to his professional resume, Blackwood has been actively involved with nonprofits that help youth from underserved communities. He has volunteered his time as a coach and mentor with Boston Cares’ MLK Scholars, Citizen Schools, and YMCA Boston.

Leon Buck

Leon Buck is the new vice president of government relations, banking and financial services at National Retail Federation (NRF).

Buck joined NRF with 25 years’ experience in government affairs and most recently was senior policy director/special projects coordinator for U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas). Throughout his career, Buck has served as a lobbyist before the House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees, and worked on the passage and enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the National Flood Insurance Reform Authorization, and the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.

Kristina Dixon

Kristina Dixon is the new chief financial officer of the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) in New York City. She will be based in Los Angeles, Calif.

Dixon will oversee NFF’s finance, information technology, and talent and organizational effectiveness functions. She joined NFF from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. When funding through the agency to address the homelessness crisis grew from $75 million to more than $400 million annually, she guided the organization’s operational expansion and its evolution as an active partner to service providers.

She also previously held finance leadership positions with the Los Angeles Urban League, Jenesse Center, Chinatown Service Center, and worked as a key member of the finance team at First 5 LA.

Kathleen Driscoll

Kathleen Driscoll is the new senior vice president and chief philanthropy officer of Mass Memorial Health Care in Worcester, Mass. It is part of the health system of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, where she is the secretary for institutional advancement.

At the archdiocese, Driscoll led the church’s first capital campaign in 17 years and began a program that raises more than $23 million a year. She also led a school fundraising campaign that has raised more than $100 million to benefit Catholic schools in the Boston area.

Kassandra Frederique

Kassandra Frederique was picked as the new executive director at the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) in New York City. Frederique, who is now the organization’s managing director of policy advocacy and campaigns, will assume the role in September after completing projects to which she is committed to in her current position.

Frederique has been an architect of campaigns to expand the debate around the impacts of policing, the importance of legalizing marijuana with social and racial justice at the forefront, engaging municipalities and state legislatures in comprehensive harm reduction strategies, and the breadth of the overdose crisis within communities of color.

Frederique started her career at DPA as an intern on the New York policy team. With her insight and creativity as an advocate, her ability to connect with those most affected by the war on drugs, and her inspiring leadership style, she has progressed through a series of increasingly responsible roles in the organization and is currently a member of the senior leadership team.

Jack Kliger

Jack Kliger is the new president and chief executive officer at The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City.

In 2019, Kliger oversaw the opening of the museum’s exhibition, Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. Originally scheduled to close this past January, the exhibition was extended through August 2020 in response to the record number of visitors it has drawn.

Kliger was born in Florence, Italy to displaced Holocaust survivor parents. They emigrated to Brooklyn, N.Y. when he was 3 1/2 years old.

He began his career at The Village Voice in the mid-1970s and was hired in 1980 by Advance Publications, owners of Condé Nast Publications. Within six years, Kliger was appointed publisher of GQ Magazine, soon followed by Glamour, the company’s largest circulation, and in 1993 was appointed executive vice president of Condé Nast Publications. After launching their digital unit Condé Net, Kliger was promoted in 1997 to executive vice president of Parade Publications, the largest business unit of Advance Publications.

Stan Little

Stan Little, former president of the Sun- Trust Foundation, joined United Way Worldwide in Alexandria, Va., as chief experience officer. Little will lead all donor- facing functions that impact how the world engages with United Way.

As CXO, Little will be responsible for delivering a compelling, relevant and consistent engagement experience with United Way branded services, including cause marketing, strategic partnerships and other funding initiatives by individual and corporate donors, volunteers and partners. By consolidating marketing, donor relations and key engagement products and services under Little’s leadership, the plan is for United Way to deliver a best-in-class donor experience to fuel growth and community impact.

Prior to joining United Way Worldwide, Little was president of the Sun-Trust Foundation and led the bank’s corporate philanthropy with a focus on financial education and counseling, career readiness/workforce development and small business entrepreneurship.

Angela Palmer

Angela Palmer was appointed regional director of The Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Palmer has worked as a self-employed marketing and community-building specialist for nonprofit organizations, most recently in Verde Valley, Ariz. She initially moved to Northern Arizona as gallery director of Kuivato Creative Gateways Gallery and Creative Gateways in Sedona, where she grew a community of artists and improved the operational efficiency of the organization.

Before moving to the Verde Valley area, Palmer lead arts organizations marketing teams at The Phoenix Symphony and Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona.

Susan Robertson

Susan Robertson, CAE, was appointed president and CEO of ASAE/The Center For Association Leadership on an 18-month engagement. She had been interim president and CEO since this past June when John Graham IV stepped down after a cancer diagnosis and subsequently died.

Robertson is the first woman to lead Washington, D.C.-based ASAE as president and CEO in its 100-year history.

Robertson will oversee all ASAE operations, including Centennial-related activities and a recent board-approved strategic planning process. Robertson has more than 19 years of experience at ASAE, including most recently as executive vice president of ASAE, and president of the ASAE Research Foundation.

Gretchen Shugart

Gretchen Shugart is the new executive director of Theatre Forward in New York City. Shugart had been a board member of Theatre Forward for more than a decade, serving as president from 2011 to 2018.

Shugart spent 17 years building Theater Mania.com, a media and technology company, from start-up to its 2017 sale. During her tenure, the company acquired U.K.-based WhatsOnStage; launched OvationTix©, a SaaS business providing ticketing, fundraising and CRM tools; executive produced the Drama Desk Awards, and became a leading provider of theater information and tickets to millions of consumers across the U.S. and U.K. Following TheaterMania’s sale, she served as president, arts & culture of acquiring company AudienceView.

She previously worked at JP Morgan Chase predecessors MHT and Chase; M&A advisory firm CEA; Bank of Montreal and as president of eMediaCapital LLC, an advisory firm. For the past year, Shugart has been providing consulting services to several early stage ventures.

Susan Styf

Susan Styf was appointed president and chief executive officer of CARE of Southeastern Michigan in Fraser, Mich.

Styf, who prior to this appointment was CARE’s chief operating officer, will oversee the continued growth and development of the organization and its programs focused on parenting support, family crisis, substance abuse disorder, mental health and workplace programs.

She has been with CARE for four years, and during that time Styf launched 16 new programs and expanded the organization’s trauma programs for first responders, including fire, police and EMS.