27-12-2011, 05:30 AM
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/busine...tions.html
George Soros, the billionaire investor, on Wednesday named Christopher Stone, a well-known expert on criminal justice, the new leader of his unconventional philanthropic empire.
Mr. Stone, a professor at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, will fully take the helm in July of the Open Society Foundations, a sprawling constellation of more than 30 organizations that operate in places as diverse as Baltimore, Jakarta, the Kremlin and Congress.
He will succeed Aryeh Neier, who is retiring at 74 after serving as the Open Society's president since 1993.
"We have a very complex organization," Mr. Soros said in a telephone interview. "It has become too complicated, and it needs to be streamlined, to become more unified."
Mr. Soros has never endowed his collection of foundations, but he often gives away enough money in a year to make Open Society the most generous philanthropy in the country after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This year, for example, it is on track to give away about $860 million.
Mr. Soros said the foundation had worked well because he and Mr. Neier "know all its nooks and crannies, but to hand it over to someone else would be very difficult."
Mr. Stone, however, is what Mr. Soros describes as an "outsider insider." He has worked as a recipient of Open Society grants, as an adviser to Open Society and as a board member of one of the member groups.
Mr. Soros also noted that Mr. Stone served as the faculty director at the Hauser Center on Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard.
"They study foundations at the center, and so he also will bring a professional understanding of such organizations to the task," Mr. Soros said.
Criminal Justice expert named to lead Soros Foundations
http://seeker401.wordpress.com/2011/12/2...undations/
George Soros, the billionaire investor, on Wednesday named Christopher Stone, a well-known expert on criminal justice, the new leader of his unconventional philanthropic empire.
Mr. Stone, a professor at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, will fully take the helm in July of the Open Society Foundations, a sprawling constellation of more than 30 organizations that operate in places as diverse as Baltimore, Jakarta, the Kremlin and Congress.
He will succeed Aryeh Neier, who is retiring at 74 after serving as the Open Society's president since 1993.
"We have a very complex organization," Mr. Soros said in a telephone interview. "It has become too complicated, and it needs to be streamlined, to become more unified."
Mr. Soros has never endowed his collection of foundations, but he often gives away enough money in a year to make Open Society the most generous philanthropy in the country after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This year, for example, it is on track to give away about $860 million.
Mr. Soros said the foundation had worked well because he and Mr. Neier "know all its nooks and crannies, but to hand it over to someone else would be very difficult."
Mr. Stone, however, is what Mr. Soros describes as an "outsider insider." He has worked as a recipient of Open Society grants, as an adviser to Open Society and as a board member of one of the member groups.
Mr. Soros also noted that Mr. Stone served as the faculty director at the Hauser Center on Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard.
"They study foundations at the center, and so he also will bring a professional understanding of such organizations to the task," Mr. Soros said.
Criminal Justice expert named to lead Soros Foundations
http://seeker401.wordpress.com/2011/12/2...undations/
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