Arcus Announces Two New Board Members

Arcus Foundation Appoints Catherine Pino and Stephen Bennett to its Board of Directors

KALAMAZOO, MI (JANUARY 26, 2011) – The Arcus Foundation, a leading global foundation advancing pressing social justice and conservation issues, announced today that Catherine Pino and Stephen Bennett have been appointed to the organization’s board of directors, beginning with the March 25, 2011 board meeting. Pino and Bennett will join current board members Cathy J. Cohen, Darren Walker and Board President and Arcus Foundation Founder Jon Stryker.

Catherine Pino is the co-founder and principal of D&P Creative Strategies, a company that she and her partner founded to advance corporate, philanthropic and legislative efforts that mirror her deep commitment to social justice and civil rights issues. Pino has over two decades of experience working in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors, including roles at Carnegie Corporation of New York, DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, Independent Sector and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), where she gained an expertise for developing strategic philanthropic efforts, designing and evaluating programs that target underserved communities, and creating successful public policy and advocacy agendas. Organizations Pino has current or past affiliations with include the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, the Victory Fund, Hetrick-Martin Institute, Nielsen, Independent Sector and NCLR.

Stephen Bennett is CEO of United Cerebral Palsy (UCP), an international network of disability advocacy organizations and providers of services. He is a leader in disability public policy with roots in advocacy, organizing and strategy, having started his career as a Peace Corps/VISTA volunteer in South Central Los Angeles in the aftermath of the Watts riots. Bennett served as the CEO of AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) in the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, and his experience in the early years of the HIV/AIDS pandemic developing a response, organizing support and building public understanding greatly impacted his life and later work. Bennett was also a founder of Sokolov, Schwab, Bennett, a healthcare strategy firm and CEO/Chair of the software firm, TransDecisions. Throughout his career he has volunteered his talents to public service causes, working in mental health, breast cancer and disabilities. He has served on various boards, including ANGLE, Leadership 18, and the National Institute for the Severely Handicapped. He is a founding board member of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and he currently chairs the Disability PAC. Teaching positions have included the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and Pepperdine University. Bennett and his partner are active supporters of Immigration Equality, which works to advance equal immigration rights for the LGBT and HIV-positive community.

“Stephen’s long-time advocacy in the areas of health care, disability rights and social justice, and Catherine’s wealth of experience in racial and social justice will be tremendous assets to Arcus and undoubtedly inform our work moving forward,” said Stryker.