The Council on Foundations’ Laura Tomasko has been tapped by the Obama Administration for a new role at the White House where she will help to craft and focus the administration’s philanthropic engagement initiatives and public policy investments. Tomasko has been with the Council on Foundations for four years, managing philanthropic partnership projects and leading community foundation-focused impact investment initiatives. This work with the council allowed her to develop working relationships with a multitude of philanthropic organizations and foundations across the nation, making her a perfect candidate for the White House position. Her educational background includes a B.A. from Occidental College and a Master’s of Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Prior to her time at the council, she served in operational and grantmaking positions at Grantmakers for Effective Organizations and the Central New York Community Foundation. Her accomplishments also include the launching and management of the Children’s Aid Society in New York City and being named a “Global Shaper” by the World Economic Forum. With an extensive background in the philanthropy, Laura Tomasko will be an essential voice for the philanthropic sector in the White House.
Joseph (Joe) Scantlebury has been named as the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s new vice president for program strategy. Scantlebury has an accomplished career in philanthropy and youth-serving institutions. He currently serves as a senior program officer for the U.S. Program Advocacy Division at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in which he has focused his work on advancing the foundation’s College Ready and Postsecondary Success strategies across the nation. Prior to that position, he was a staff attorney for the Youth Law Center in Washington, D.C., where he worked to address systemic problems within the juvenile justice system. A former vice chair of the board of the National Youth Employment Coalition and chair of the Center for Community Conferencing, Scantlebury received his B.S. from the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law. After his education, he helped to establish and served as director of the Legal Action Center National H.I.R.E. Network, a national clearinghouse for ex-offender employment. With the experience and knowledge from many positions and accomplishments under his belt, Joseph Scantlebury will head, craft and execute strategic programming efforts at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to improve the lives of vulnerable children and families both nationally and internationally beginning on Jan. 5.
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) recently announced the unanimous selection of Sue Cunningham as its new president. Being an international association, CASE had mounted a worldwide search for a new president since January of 2014 after its 11-year president, John Lippincot, announced his intent to retire. Cunningham, whose educational background was originally in performance arts, began an extensive career in the education sector in 1998 at St. Andrews University where she oversaw development, communications and alumni relations. She then moved on to the University of Oxford where she served for five years heading advancement efforts at Christ Church and led a development team which implemented an almost two billion dollar fundraising campaign. During her time at the University of Oxford, she was also responsible for establishing the university’s first office in China, located in Hong Kong. Most recently, her work has been with the University of Melbourne in Australia as the leader of the 2013-launched Campaign for the University of Melbourne. Cunningham has been a member and frequent volunteer at CASE since beginning her career in 1998.
The National Development Council (NDC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to community development initiatives across the country, has named Jane Campbell as its new director and head of its Washington Office of Public Policy and Advocacy. Jane Campbell is the former and first female mayor of Cleveland. After inheriting a $60 million dollar budget deficit coming into her first term, she was responsible for stabilizing the city’s budget and for leading a collaboration between government and private sectors to initiate an almost $3 billion dollar investment project for urban development and revitalization. Campbell’s career before her entry into politics and subsequent stint as mayor includes a number of leadership roles in advocacy groups and community organizations as well as a stay at ERAmerica working as a National Field Director in Washington, D.C. in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. Campbell was first elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1984 and would be reelected five times, serving as majority whip and later the assistant minority leader. She was also elected to serve as president of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Campbell then worked as the Cuyahoga County commissioner from 1996 until winning the Cleveland mayoral race in 2001. Her educational background includes an undergraduate degree in American history from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in urban studies from Cleveland State University. With an educational, political and public service background which has always been dedicated to community and urban development, Jane Campbell is a perfect fit for her role at NDC where she will work on numerous economic and community development initiatives as well as direct its expanded community advocacy program, Advocating for Communities Together (ACT).
William H. Scheide, a prominent philanthropist and leader in the area of education (particularly music-education) and civil rights recently passed away at the age of 100 in his home in Princeton, New Jersey. With wealth accrued by his grandfather in the Pennsylvania oil boom of the late 19th century, he dedicated his life to a wide range of philanthropic and artistic pursuits. Scheide, whose primary interest had always been music, received a bachelor’s degree in history from Princeton University and a master’s in music from Columbia. He developed a keen interest in the works of Johann Sabastian Bach, later founding the Bach Aria Group, an ensemble which performed some of Bach’s rarest pieces for audiences worldwide. Throughout his life, Scheide contributed large sums of money to Princeton University as well as others. He also donated his family’s personal and extensive rare book collection to the Princeton Library now fittingly known as the Scheide Library at Princeton, allowing their educational value to be appreciated by students and academics everywhere. It is now widely considered to be one of the world’s finest collections of rare books due largely to his donations. Scheide also used his wealth to help pursue the goals of the civil rights movement, becoming the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s most generous individual donor and as well as its longest-serving board member. Although he always considered himself a Republican, Mr. Scheide donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic causes and candidates during his later years as a show of support for expanded education, social welfare and racial-equality programs meant to benefit the poor and working class. His philanthropy also extended into numerous education programs throughout the nation; funding construction of student music centers, the establishment of cultural studies programs and providing funding for thousands of scholarships in the humanities to allow students to pursue educational opportunities. William H. Scheide is survived by his wife, Judith, as well as two daughters, a son, three stepdaughters, three grandchildren, six step-grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He will be forever remembered by his family and by those his generosity effected.
In addition to announcing the departure of Laura Tomasko to the White House, the Council on Foundations also recently named three new network managers. Stephanie McGencey, Ph.D., Jenny Harms and Lorne Steedley will serve the council as its new network managers for the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Southeast regions respectively. These three new regional network managers represent a new direction for the Council on Foundations’ national plans.
Stephanie McGencey, who holds a B.S. in Health Science from San Francisco State University, a Master of Public Health in Health Behavior/Health Education from the University of Michigan, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Health Services from Walden University, is joining the council after serving for ten years at Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families where she worked extensively with government and private sectors on cross-sector collaborations to best help disadvantaged beneficiaries.
Jenny Harms comes to the organization after serving as senior program officer for the Hitachi Foundation where she managed grant portfolios aimed at addressing poverty throughout the country and trained employees in the field of corporate philanthropy and volunteerism. A graduate of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business with an M.B.A. and concentration in Social Entrepreneurship, Jenny Harms will serve the Midwest from the council’s Minneapolis, Minnesota location.
Lorne Steedley joins the council after spending almost five years as a grantmaker for the Annie E. Casey Foundation where he focused his efforts on researching and addressing the effects of gentrification, regionalism, and sprawl on disadvantaged families in a variety of communities. His previous positions include serving as assistant director for the Washington, D.C., office of former South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges and a research position at M.I.T. He has a B.A. from the University of South Carolina, a M.S. in Human Services from the University of Massachusetts-Boston, and a M.A. in Sociology from Boston College. Lorne Steedley will serve the Southeast from the council’s Atlanta, Georgia office.
