Stoneleigh Foundation Announces the Appointment of New Executive Director

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am delighted to announce the appointment of Joanna Visser Adjoian as the Stoneleigh Foundation’s next Executive Director, effective July 13, 2026.

Joanna is a nonprofit executive, attorney, and strategist with deep expertise in social justice, public interest law, systems change, and movement building. She is a nationally recognized leader with an extraordinary track record of community impact in both Philadelphia and across the country. As Executive Director, she will lead the Foundation’s mission to improve the life outcomes of our community’s young people, while guiding its programs, partnerships, and future initiatives.

Prior to joining Stoneleigh, Joanna served as Strategic Advisor and Chief of Advocacy at GirlTREK, where she led a national systems-change agenda focused on Black women’s health and well-being, overseeing advocacy and mass mobilization efforts designed to improve outcomes for more than one million members. Previously, she served as Senior Program Officer for Social Justice at Spring Point Partners, where she led a multimillion-dollar grantmaking portfolio supporting local and national organizations advancing racial and economic justice, and as co-founder and co-director of the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project, a nationally recognized nonprofit dedicated to improving outcomes for youth charged as adults and individuals returning to their communities after extreme sentences.

Joanna has been recognized with numerous honors for her service and impact, including the American Bar Association’s Fearless Children’s Lawyer of the Month, the American Constitution Society’s David Carliner Public Interest Award, and Penn Law’s Young Alumni Award. She serves on the boards of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, The Highland Project, and the Defender Association of Philadelphia. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute.

Joanna holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

The Board of Directors extends its sincere gratitude to Ronnie L. Bloom, whose outstanding leadership and service over the last twelve years brought Stoneleigh’s work to new heights and increased the Foundation’s profile locally and nationally.

Please join me in congratulating and welcoming Joanna as she assumes this new role. Her passion, vision, and longtime commitment to young people will make her an excellent leader to help advance Stoneleigh’s mission and steward the Foundation into its next era.

Katherine H. Christiano
Chair, Board of Directors