(WASHINGTON, November 19, 2008) -- Independent Sector members elected four new members to the IS Board of Directors during their annual business meeting at the IS Annual Conference in Philadelphia earlier this month.

Returning as chair is Brian A. Gallagher, president and CEO of United Way of America. Members also re-elected three officers to the board of directors: J. D. Hokoyama, president and CEO, Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics as vice chair; Luz A. Vega-Marquis, president and CEO, Marguerite Casey Foundation, as secretary; and Gary L. Yates, president and CEO, California Wellness Foundation, as treasurer.

IS members elected the following directors to a first three-year term on the board:

Ralph B. Everett is the president and CEO of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a leading think tank that focuses on African-American issues. Prior to this position, he spent 17 years as a specialist in telecommunications and transportation policy at the law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, where he became its first African-American partner. He had previously worked in the U.S. Senate for more than a decade, including serving as staff director and chief counsel of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. He is currently on the boards Cumulus Media, the Shenandoah Life Insurance Company, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the Virginia Science Museum, and the Black Leadership Forum. His past service includes being a member of the boards of the National Urban League, the Center for National Policy, and the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Mr. Everett is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College and has a juris doctor from Duke University Law School.

Stephen B. Heintz is president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, an international foundation supporting social change to help build a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. Before joining the foundation, he was founding president of Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action, a public policy research and advocacy organization working to enhance the vitality of American democracy and promote more broadly shared economic prosperity. Mr. Heintz was previously executive vice president and COO of the EastWest Institute, where he worked on issues of economic reform, civil society development, and international security. Mr. Heintz devoted the first 15 years of his career to government service in the State of Connecticut, where he served as commissioner of social welfare and commissioner of economic development. Articles written by Mr. Heintz have appeared in The International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal Europe. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University.

Mariam C. Noland became the first president of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, based in Detroit, in 1985. Ms. Noland has more than 30 years experience administering community foundations, including the Cleveland Foundation, where she served as program officer and secretary/treasurer, and the Saint Paul Foundation, where she was vice president. Prior to joining the foundation field, she was on staff at Davidson and Baldwin-Wallace colleges. Ms. Noland is currently a member of the board of trustees of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, and is vice chair of the board of the Henry Ford Health System. She earned an Ed.M. from Harvard University and a B.S. from Case Western Reserve University.

Wendy D. Puriefoy is president of the Public Education Network, the nation’s largest network of community-based school reform organizations. Ms. Puriefoy has been deeply involved in school reform since the 1970s, when she served as a special monitor of the court-ordered desegregation plan for Boston’s public schools. Immediately before joining PEN, Ms. Puriefoy was executive vice president and COO of The Boston Foundation, a community foundation with an endowment of over $750 million supporting public health/welfare, educational, cultural, environmental, and housing programs in its region. Ms. Puriefoy serves on the boards of Demos, Hasbro Children’s Foundation, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the Milton Hershey School, and the National Center for Family Philanthropy. She is also a member of the IS Public Policy Committee. Ms. Puriefoy received a B.A. from William Smith College and holds master’s of arts degrees in African American studies, American studies, and American colonial history, all from Boston University.

“I look forwarding to working with these dynamic leaders in the upcoming year,” said Diana Aviv, president and CEO of Independent Sector. “Their deep knowledge of and commitment to the nonprofit community will enable Independent Sector to continue its important work of improving lives and strengthening communities.”

The following board members were also re-elected to a second three-year term:

• Luz A. Vega-Marquis, president and CEO, Marguerite Casey Foundation;
• Ruth A. Wooden, president, Public Agenda; and
• Gary L. Yates, president and CEO, The California Wellness Foundation.

The board also acknowledged the service of its departing members:

• Kevin Klose, president, National Public Radio;
• Stanley S. Litow, president, IBM International Foundation;
• William E. Trueheart, former president and CEO, The Pittsburgh Foundation; and
• Paula Van Ness, CEO, Starlight Children’s Foundation.

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Independent Sector is a nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition of approximately 550 charities, foundations, and corporate giving programs, collectively representing tens of thousands of charitable groups in every state across the nation. Its mission is to advance the common good by leading, strengthening, and mobilizing the nonprofit and philanthropic community.