Tides Foundation and Tides Center Hire New Senior Executives

Brian Byrnes and Carla Dartis to Join Tides as Managing Directors and Senior Vice Presidents in New Integrated Structure

San Francisco, CA - February 4, 2008 - Tides (www.tides.org) has hired Brian Byrnes and Carla Dartis as Senior Vice Presidents and Managing Directors of Tides Foundation and Tides Center, respectively.  These two senior executive hires will help propel Tides into a newly configured network structure to integrate its core capacities in donor advised philanthropy, philanthropic consulting, fiscal sponsorship and nonprofit real estate services in order to better serve its clients and strengthen the nonprofit community. Tides Foundation was founded in 1976 and has granted more than $550 million since 2000 alone and works with more than 400 individual and institutional donors. Tides Center provides fiscal sponsorship to over 200 groups across the nation.

Brian Byrnes will be stepping down as the President/Chief Executive Officer of The Vermont Community Foundation (VCF) and will start his new position at Tides on February 25, 2008. During Byrnes' leadership, between 2003 and 2007 assets at the VCF grew from roughly $70 million to more than $160 million. Byrnes also led the VCF through a major campaign to reassess their business model and to connect more closely to the long-term social change needs of the community.  Previously, Byrnes served as Deputy Executive Director of Programs for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, as well as Education Director for AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts and Education Director of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. 

"I'm honored to lead Tides Foundation with its 32 year history and impeccable track record of working with individual and institutional donors," said Brian Byrnes. "Tides is well positioned to do great things in the world, with a breadth of experience in the social justice arena and an impressive platform of services under one umbrella."

Carla Dartis has served as the Vice President of Community Investment for the East Bay Community Foundation for the past three years and will start her new position at Tides on February 11, 2008. "Tides Center provides a crucial service to the nonprofit sector. It provides the framework for inspired and committed social entrepreneurs to try out new strategies, to test new ideas and create positive change that they might not consider without Tides," said Dartis. "I'm thrilled to help lead such a dynamic enterprise and work with the hundreds of Tides Center projects across the country."

Dartis is very familiar with providing support and infrastructure to vital nonprofit efforts.  She previously served as the Program Officer for Children, Families, and Communities Programs at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. She was an Annie E. Casey Foundation Children and Families Leadership Fellow. She was also a Vice President for the Bank of America Community Development Bank, President of the Drew Economic Development Corporation and as the Principal Loan Officer for the Mayor's Office of Economic Development in Los Angeles. 

"Tides Foundation, Tides Center and Tides Shared Spaces will operate in an increasingly collaborative manner that will continue our history of excellent service, adapt to our clients' needs for a blend of services and respond to changes in the nonprofit sector," said Drummond Pike, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tides. "Brian Byrnes and Carla Dartis bring extensive leadership and nonprofit sector experience to our executive team. We're very pleased to announce these appointments, and I'm confident that they will be instrumental in charting the course to our vision of a healthy and just society."

In support of the new integrated structure, two additional executive positions have also been created. Tides veterans, Ellen Friedman and Lauren Webster have been promoted to the positions of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer respectively and they will serve all of the Tides organizations. Continuing a tradition of innovation to advance positive social change, Tides has created a networked operational and leadership structure where it is now able to offer clients an array of services that amplifies the efforts of forward-thinking philanthropists, foundations, activists and organizations in a more integrated fashion. 

"Operating as independent entities, Tides Center, Tides Foundation, and Tides Shared Spaces were challenged to bring together their resources. Operating as a network, Tides has an opportunity to bring together people, ideas and resources to help our clients increase the already powerful impact they are having on the progressive social change movement," said Ellen Friedman, Executive Vice President of Tides.

About Tides
Tides actively promotes change toward broadly shared economic opportunity, robust democratic processes and the opportunity to live in a healthy and sustainable environment where human rights are preserved and protected. Tides is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 and provides an array of services that amplifies the efforts of forward-thinking philanthropists, foundations, activists and organizations to make the world a better place. Tides Foundation, Tides Center and Tides Shared Spaces have collaborated with over 15,000 individuals and organizations that have touched millions of lives across the country and around the globe. With offices in San Francisco and New York City, Tides provides fiscal sponsorship for over 200 groups across the country, operates and supports green nonprofit centers and has granted more than $550 million since 2000 alone. For more information, visit www.tides.org.

Media Inquiries: Christine Coleman, 415-561-6354, ccoleman(at)tides.org