News Update

May 25, 2006
 

 Executive Director Search Concluded

Board Names Bruce S. Trachtenberg as Network Executive

Message from Network Chair Grant Oliphant

Dear Network Colleagues:

There’s always a danger in making predictions, especially those you intend to live by.  But I am delighted to report that in the few short weeks since I wrote to update you on the status of our search for a new Executive Director, the Network board has brought our search to a swift and successful conclusion.

Our choice is Bruce S. Trachtenberg, a veteran communications professional, who has spent the last 15 years directing communications operations at two leading national foundations, and before that held a range of corporate communications posts.  Bruce comes to this job with an insider’s knowledge of the challenges communicators in our sector face every day, and with a practical understanding of what works, what doesn’t, and what we need to know more about in order to be effective.  Simply put, he is one of “us.”  As you’ll see in his own message to members, Bruce’s involvement with our network dates back many years to the days when it was still an affinity group of the Council on Foundations known as Communicators Network in Philanthropy.

>> Read the Full Letter

Message from Network Executive Director Bruce Trachtenberg

Dear Network Colleagues,

About 15 years ago I took a job as director of communications for a national foundation in New York City.  Although I had held corporate communications
jobs for almost the same number of years before moving to the foundation world, I felt like a novice.  I wasn't certain what were considered as acceptable practices for a foundation communicator, how non-profit communications
differed from for-profit work, and similarly didn't know how much (or how well) my previous training and experience would serve me in my new role. By a stroke of good fortune I was introduced very early on to a fellow foundation communicator whose first words of advice were "join the network."

I dutifully did what he suggested and in short order attended my first annual meeting of the Communicators Network in Philanthropy—the forerunner of today's Communications Network. The experience served me well.  Over the course of a few days I made many new (and lasting) friendships, collected a handful of business cards, and made lots of mental notes of who did what and where.  Suddenly I neither felt alone nor in over my head.  I found a committed group of professionals who instantly welcomed me into the fold, with offers to help whenever I needed it. And they did. As the years rolled by, I, too, found myself lending a hand when called, speaking at conferences when invited, and generally feeling connected to an organization that has continued to help me learn how to be more effective at my job -- and hopefully with the results to prove it.

>> Read the Full Letter

>> Contact Bruce