Terry Lane, Ruben Orduna Named Vice Presidents of Boston Foundation

Boston – The Boston Foundation announced today that Terry Saunders Lane has been named as the Vice President for Program and Ruben D. Orduna as the Vice President for Development.  Ms. Lane’s appointment is effective immediately; Mr. Orduna assumes his new position as of July 1, 2003.

In her new position as Vice President for Program, Ms. Lane will oversee the development, implementation and evaluation of the Boston Foundation’s discretionary grant making program.  She joined the Foundation in 2001 as the Director of Policy, Research and Evaluation, and has worked closely with the Foundation’s staff to conduct research on a variety of topics, including the Food and Shelter Initiative and the 2000 Boston Social Capital Benchmark Survey.  She has also been a major contributor to the reconfiguration of the Foundation’s grantmaking guidelines and the formulation of some of its special initiatives.  For the past eighteen months, Ms. Lane has also served as Co-Director of the Program department.

“We are extraordinarily fortunate to have someone of Terry Lane’s experience and expertise to see that the Foundation’s grantmaking dollars address our community’s most urgent needs,” said Paul Grogan, President of the Boston Foundation.  “In addition, she will be overseeing our special initiatives, ranging from the expansion of pilot and charter schools in Boston, to the improvement of workforce development programs, and extending access to technology and increasing voter registration and participation.  I am confident that under Terry’s leadership, the Foundation’s grants will have the maximum impact on our community’s greatest challenges.”

Before coming to the Boston Foundation, Ms. Lane was an Associate Dean and faculty member at the Boston University School of Social Work, where she focused on research related to vulnerable populations, including people with HIV, young homeless women, pregnant teenagers, and immigrants and refugees.  Ms. Lane holds an MSS degree from Bryn Mawr College, and a BA degree in Sociology from Colby College.  The Vice President of Program position has been open since Deborah C. Jackson, who held that position for three years, resigned in December 2001 to become CEO of the American Red Cross of Massachusetts Bay.

Ruben Orduna will become the Vice President for Development at the Foundation, where he will oversee the Foundation’s fundraising and new business development efforts.  Mr. Orduna has worked at the Foundation for the last three years as Director of Development, where he worked closely with the professional advisor community, as well as with individual and institutional donors, and managed special projects such as Social Venture Partners Boston and a new co-branding relationship with Merrill Lynch.

“Ruben Orduna has demonstrated a creativity that will be enormously beneficial to the Foundation in today’s extremely challenging economic climate,” Mr. Grogan noted.  “He has shown a deep commitment to building the Foundation’s assets to ensure that we’re able to address the current needs of the community, while at the same time building the long-term charitable capital to meet the unforeseen needs of the future.”

Before coming to the Foundation, Mr. Orduna was Executive Director of Crossroads Community Foundation, which serves the area west of Boston, and prior to that, Director of Community Foundation Services for the Council on Foundations.  He has been actively engaged in development work for the nonprofit community for more than twenty years.  Mr. Orduna holds an MBA degree from the University of Maryland and a BA degree from Occidental College.

John Shugert, Vice President for Development for the past four years, is leaving the Foundation to pursue other opportunities in the field of nonprofit advancement and management.  During his years at the Foundation, Mr. Shugert played a major role in strategic planning, including a restructuring of the Foundation’s operations in the wake of a study last year conducted by the Boston Consulting Group.  He also advanced a broad range of initiatives within the areas of advisor relations, major gifts/planned giving, and donor services.

“John Shugert has played a significant role at the Boston Foundation,” Mr. Grogan said.  “He engineered the tremendous growth of our development program and nurtured relationships with many of the Foundation’s most valued donors and professional advisors.  He’s been a key member of our management team on many fronts, as well as an effective representative on our behalf in our community and among professional colleagues across the country  -- work that will continue to benefit the Foundation for many years to come.”

Angel Bermudez, who has been acting Co-Director for Program at the Boston Foundation, will continue to be Director of Grantmaking.  In that role, he will continue not only to focus on issues related to workforce development and advocacy, but also will work closely with Ms. Lane to guide the Foundation’s grantmaking.

“The Foundation is profoundly grateful to Angel Bermudez for playing such a pivotal role in co-directing the Program department after Deborah Jackson left,” Mr. Grogan noted.  “He displayed great creativity and leadership within the Program department, and provided continuity and vision to the agencies and community partners we serve.”

The Boston Foundation, one of the nation’s oldest and largest community foundations, has an endowment of more than $550 million and made grants of  $53.7 million to nonprofit organizations last year. The Boston Foundation is made up of 750 separate charitable funds, which have been established by donors either for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes. The Boston Foundation also serves as a civic leader, convener, and sponsor of special initiatives designed to improve Greater Boston. For more information about the Boston Foundation and its grantmaking, visit www.tbf.org, or call 617-338-1700.