Atkinson Foundation announces new executive

The Atkinson Charitable Foundation is saying goodbye to its executive director and secretary to the board, Olivia Nuamah, after 18 months in the leadership role.

Nuamah is returning to the United Kingdom with her family, according to a statement released by the foundation.

Effective immediately, Christine Avery Nuñez has been named acting executive director until a fulltime director can be appointed. Nuñez has been with the foundation for 16 years, most recently as man- aging director.

Before she was appointed to the Atkinson Foundation, Nuamah had held senior positions in the British government and the non-profit sector over the previous 15 years. Most recently, just before returning to Toronto, she had worked on former prime minister Tony Blair’s pledge to end poverty in the United Kingdom by 2020.

Before going to Britain, Nuamah completed an undergraduate degree in international development and social anthropology at the University of Toronto.

She joined the Atkinson Founda- tion on Sept. 7, 2010, bringing to the job her passion to help communities help themselves, using the principles set forth by the foundation. The Atkinson Foundation was established in 1942 by Joseph E. Atkinson, former publisher of the To

ronto Star, with the aim of promoting social and economic justice. The foundation has distributed grants of more than $60 million to health, social welfare, economic justice and education. Its priorities include poverty reduction, early learning and development, and the Canadian Index of Wellbeing.