Patrick T. McCarthy will succeed the retiring Douglas Nelson as president and CEO of the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation, the foundation’s board announced today.
McCarthy, who takes over April 4, joined Casey in 1994 and is now senior vice president. His 25 years of experience in “children’s well-being,” the foundation said, include serving as a psychiatric social worker in the Camden County (N.J.) Mental Health Center; as senior program officer at the Center for Assessment and Policy Development in Bala Cynwyd, Pa.; and in several positions at the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families, including director of the Division of Rehabilitative Services.
The 60-year-old McCarthy holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania.
Board president Michael L. Eskew said McCarthy was chosen for, among other things, his “strong understanding and appreciation” of best practices in child and family services, of the need for reform in child-serving systems such as education, child welfare juvenile justice, and of the dynamics of “positive neighborhood change.”
Nelson has been with the foundation for 20 years. For more on Nelson’s tenure, go here.
The foundation reports a staff of more than 500, including regional operations around the country. It was founded in 1948 in Seattle by UPS co-founder Jim Casey and his siblings, in honor of their mother. It describes itself as “dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the United States.”
It reported giving out $190 million in grants in 2008. It currently has about $2.5 billion in assets.
The firm of Isaacson Miller managed the search process, the foundation said.
