The Philadelphia-based Stoneleigh Foundation, founded and funded by John and Chara Haas, today announced the appointment of a new executive director. Cathy Weiss, the former Claneil Foundation executive director and program officer for the Rockefeller Family Fund and William Penn Foundation, was unanimously selected by the Stoneleigh board of directors. She will officially become director in August 2010.
Carole Haas Gravagno, chairwoman of the Stoneleigh board, said, “Cathy Weiss brings a proven track record in philanthropy and public policy. She comes with strong expertise in strategic planning and a deep understanding of how research work informs and advances effective public policy. With her experience and leadership, the board, as well as John and Chara Haas, believe that Cathy will be able to sustain the great tradition of this institution and look to the future with confidence.”
Weiss, currently a senior consultant with national strategic planning consulting firm The Burd Group, was also finance director for Governor Edward Rendell’s first gubernatorial campaign, and served as Assistant to Mayor Ed Koch of New York and Mayor W. Wilson Goode. Following her work in City Hall, Weiss joined the William Penn Foundation, first as a program officer and then as a program analyst, where she managed the Foundation’s $5 million Initiative Program designed to explore ideas and collaborate on long-term solutions to problems in Philadelphia and the region.
She also served as a program officer at the Rockefeller Family Fund where she was responsible for managing the five grantmaking programs of the national family foundation. Weiss returned to Philadelphia as executive director of the Claneil Foundation, overseeing all aspects of the foundation’s operations, finances and $5.2 million grant-making program.
Weiss succeeds Julia Dutton, who served as Stoneleigh’s executive director since the foundation’s founding in 2006. Dutton worked closely with the Haas family to build a foundation that centers on fellowship awards to professionals who focus on uniting research with policy change and practice improvement in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Earlier this spring, Dutton advised the board that she had taken the foundation to a level where she now feels comfortable handing off the reins to a new director.