FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 23, 2016
Cardinali Will Join Sector-Leading Organization in July 2016 as its Next Leader;
He Brings Deep Qualifications and Passion Integral to Advancing the Common Good
WASHINGTON – The Independent Sector (IS) Board of Directors announced today that Dan Cardinali, President of Communities In Schools, Inc., has been selected as its new President and CEO. Cardinali, who will take over as President and CEO in July 2016, brings extensive experience working with, organizing and leading nonprofits and charitable causes.
“I am delighted to welcome Dan Cardinali as the next President and CEO of Independent Sector. He will continue the long tradition of highly passionate and qualified CEOs who have led IS since its founding 35 years ago,” said Neil Nicoll, chairman of the IS Board of Directors. “Dan’s extensive background and expertise in the charitable community will allow him to move expeditiously to address pressing priorities for the sector. He has the skills to build upon Independent Sector’s legacy of helping a diverse sector advance the common good and he will strengthen our organization, and the sector at large, for a rapidly changing future. Our dedicated team and our Board of Directors welcomes this new chapter for IS and we look forward to working with Dan.”
As president of Communities In Schools, Inc., the nation’s largest dropout prevention organization, Cardinali has led efforts to develop and advance an evidence-based model of integrated student service provision and has launched a national growth strategy to increase the organization’s impact on improving public education.
“I am honored and grateful to join Independent Sector and look forward to implementing IS’s ambitious new vision for serving the entire charitable sector. At this important juncture in our nation’s history, it is critical that charities, nonprofits and foundations are thriving and responsive to the communities they serve,” said Dan Cardinali, incoming President and CEO of Independent Sector. “I look forward to working with Independent Sector’s members, board, staff, partners and our entire sector to strengthen IS’s role as the vital meeting ground to advance the common good. I want to thank the Communities In Schools family for their continued support and commitment to transforming public education. As I leave CIS, I know that it is well positioned for unprecedented growth and impact in the future.”
Cardinali is a 2007 Annie E. Casey Children and Families Fellow. He also currently serves as a trustee for America’s Promise, on the board of Independent Sector and of Child Trends. In May 2011 he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
“Dan is a courageous champion for the common good and an accomplished leader who understands the complexities of philanthropy and the importance of collaboration,” said Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation and a director of Independent Sector. “Given the many challenges facing our world, our work has never been more necessary. We could not be more excited to have such a creative and passionate visionary in the vanguard of this work and at the helm of this indispensable institution.”
Trained as a community organizer in Guadalajara, Mexico, Cardinali served on a team organizing a “squatter” community of 120,000 to secure land rights, running water and public education. He returned to Washington, D.C., to receive a one-year research fellowship at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.
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About Independent Sector: Independent Sector is the leadership forum for nonprofits, foundations, and corporate giving programs whose member networks collectively represent tens of thousands of organizations locally, nationally, and globally.
