Ploughshares Fund Bids Fond Farewell to Executive Director Naila Bolus
Washington, D.C.After 14 years of growing Ploughshares Fund’s influence and grantmaking, Executive Director Naila Bolus will leave this fall to lead another national nonprofit based in Boston.
“Naila has been an outstanding leader of Ploughshares Fund, providing vision and momentum that has grown the organization into a major force shaping nuclear policy,” said Ploughshares Fund President Joe Cirincione. “We are very sad to see her leave, but very proud that her leadership gifts have been recognized as she moves into a new field.”
Since Bolus joined Ploughshares Fund in 1997, she has tripled the organization’s staff and budget, transforming it from a small catalyst funder into a national political player. During her tenure, she spearheaded a successful $25 million endowment campaign, transitioned the organization through the death of its charismatic founder, Sally Lilienthal, and opened an office in Washington, DC. Called one of the field’s “leading lights,” Bolus was particularly influential in bringing new funding into the sector. In 2010, Bolus and Cirincione masterminded a new model of “impact philanthropy” that enabled Ploughshares Fund to lead over fifty non-governmental organizations in a campaign to win U.S. Senate approval of the New START accord.
“The model that Naila helped create has made Ploughshares Fund a uniquely effective foundation, one that provides both funding and leadership to the groups it supports,” said Roger Hale, Chair of Ploughshares Fund’s Board of Directors. “I’m confident that Ploughshares Fund will continue to be a leading force in efforts for a more peaceful and secure future.”
Cirincione will continue to lead the organization forward into the next phase. The organization is currently concentrating on campaigns to reduce the nuclear weapons budget to better fit the needs of our 21st century military; to accelerate cuts in U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons in a manner that benefits both nations’ national security; to promote a diplomatic resolution of Iran’s nuclear program; and to reduce the risk of nuclear conflict in South Asia.
An announcement from Bolus’s new employer will be made later this month.
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