Karen Wawrzaszek Joins Meyer Foundation Board of Directors
The board also bids farewell to Jim Sandman, Debby Ratner Salzberg, and Rajiv Vinnakota and thanks them for their years of service.
The board of directors of the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation elected Karen Wawrzaszek, senior director of financial planning at Sullivan Bruyette Speros & Blayney, to the board at its June 4 meeting.
Prior to joining Sullivan Bruyette Speros & Blayney, a Washington, DC area-based financial advisory services company in 2018, where she leads the firm’s planning strategies and team development, Wawrzaszek was a managing director for Rockefeller Capital Management. For more than 20 years, she has helped families and nonprofit organizations navigate financial planning and impact investing. In 2018, she was named one of Washingtonian magazine’s Top Financial Advisers.
She is also the co-founder and chief executive officer of Pomona Society, a diverse collective of women who collaborate to affect systemic change for women and families in the District.
She serves as treasurer of the Washington Area Women’s Foundation’s board of directors and business advisor to Bubble, LLC, a privately held company. She is a member of the Washington, DC Estate Planning Council and the Family Firm Institute.
Wawrzaszek is a 2018 graduate of Leadership Greater Washington’s Signature Program. She holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Wichita State University, is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ professional, and Certified Trust and Financial Advisor (CTFA).
“Karen is an excellent addition to the Meyer Foundation’s board of directors,” says Meyer Foundation President and CEO Nicky Goren. “She brings to the Foundation a commitment to systemic change, as well as a belief and expertise in aligning organizational practices — including investments — with values and mission.”
In addition to Wawrzaszek joining the board of directors, three board members will also be departing the board in June: Board Chair Jim Sandman rolls off the board after 12 years of board service, as does Immediate Past Board Chair Debby Ratner Salzberg; Rajiv Vinnakota completes a three-year term on the board and takes on a new leadership role at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in New Jersey. Vice Chair Charlene M. Dukes takes over as board chair and Bo Menkiti as vice chair.
“We are immensely grateful to Jim, Debby, and Raj for their years of service to the Meyer Foundation’s board of directors,” says Goren. “As board chairs, Debby and Jim were instrumental in getting the Foundation on a clearer path toward advancing equity. Raj’s valuable insights challenged us to envision greater possibilities. Each of them will be greatly missed, and we wish them the best on their next steps.”
Established in 1944 by Eugene Meyer, an owner and publisher of The Washington Post, and his wife, the author and social activist Agnes E. Meyer, the Meyer Foundation is one of the Washington area’s oldest and largest locally-focused philanthropies. The Foundation’s mission is to pursue and invest in solutions that build an equitable Greater Washington community in which economically disadvantaged people thrive.
