People

The Ford Foundation has selected Luis A. Ubiñas as its president. In January, Ubiñas will succeed Susan V. Berresford, who has led the foundation for more than a decade. Ubiñas has worked with the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, as well as with nonprofit groups, including Leadership Education and Development and the United Way of the Bay Area in San Francisco. Under Berresford, Ford used a $52-million grant to generate $4 billion in housing loans for almost 50,000 low-income families in the past nine years.

Phillip Henderson is the new president of the New York City-based Surdna Foundation. He succeeds Ed Skloot, who led the foundation for 18 years. Henderson came to Surdna from the post of vice president of the German Marshall Fund. The Surdna Foundation makes grants in the areas of environment, community revitalization, effective citizenry, the arts, and the nonprofit sector.

After 18 years of service, G. Allan Kingston has retired from his post as president and chief executive officer of Century Housing, the nonprofit affordable-housing lender based in Culver City, Calif. Under Kingston's leadership, Century Housing helped finance the development of almost 15,000 homes for low-income families and individuals throughout Southern California. In 2004, Multi-Housing News named Kingston one of the most influential people in housing.

Ben Hecht has been named chief executive officer of Living Cities, a collaborative of private foundations, financial institutions, and public agencies. Hecht was previously president and chief operating officer of One Economy Corporation, which he helped found in 2000 to bring the Internet to low-income families. Prior to launching One Economy, he was a senior vice president at the Enterprise Foundation, and also founded the National Center for Tenant Ownership at Georgetown University.

The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP) named Sen. Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) the 2007 Stewart B. Mc-Kinney Award recipient for his long-time commitment to low-income and homeless Americans and for his support of the McKinney-Vento Act. NLCHP honors individuals and organizations whose leadership advances solutions to homelessness and poverty in America. Other award recipients were: Etan Thomas of the Washington Wizards, for his advocacy for the rights of homeless and low-income men, women, and children; and U.S. District Court Judge Jay Zainey, who organized the Homeless Experience Legal Protection Program, under which attorneys provide legal consultation and notary services at homeless centers in New Orleans. Both were given the 2007 Bruce F. Vento Award. www.nhi.org/go/nlchp

The Fund for an Open Society, a national nonprofit that works to promote thriving integrated communities, has reestablished its National Committee, which had been dormant for much of the past decade. The committee, which will advise the governing board of directors, includes veterans of the affordable-housing and community-development fields, including two NHI board members: Dr. Roland Anglin, director of the Initiative for Regional and Community Transformation at Rutgers University and executive director of the Center for Race and Ethnicity; and Patrick Morrissy, executive director of HANDS, Inc. Other members are Elliott Lee, deputy executive director of the Community Training and Assistance Center; and Leo Vazquez, an instructor at Rutgers University's Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. www.nhi.org/go/opensoc

Three Pennsylvania community-development organizations will receive $1 million from the state's Neighborhood Partnership Program and Wachovia Bank for community-revitalization projects. The People's Emergency Center in West Philadelphia will receive $100,000 a year for economic and community development, affordable housing, and community building. The Housing Association and Development Corporation in Allentown will receive $50,000 a year to support its Neighborhood Renewal Program. The Spanish American Civic Association in Lancaster will receive $50,000 a year for the construction and development of new homes and a learning facility that will help adults and at-risk students. www.nhi.org/go/newPA