New CEO leaves Triangle Community Foundation

The Foundation’s board of directors on Oct. 4 accepted the resignation, effective immediately, of Mark Bensen, who had joined the Foundation on Aug. 13 after serving as executive vice president of MDC, a Durham-based think-tank on economic and workforce development.

Phail Wynn Jr., vice president for Durham and regional affairs at Duke University, who had served on a pro-bono, part-time basis as interim president and CEO since the equally abrupt departure last year of Andrea Bazan as chief executive, has agreed to return as interim president and CEO on a temporary, pro-bono basis.

“Early on, both the board and Mark realized they had widely divergent visions for the Foundation, both in terms of strategy and implementation,” Richard B. Guirlinger, the board’s chair, said in a letter distributed Oct, 4 to fundholders and friends of the foundation.

“After careful and extensive deliberation,” the letter says, the board “determined that it was in the best interests of the Foundation to accept Mark’s resignation. We appreciate Mark’s brief tenure with us and wish him well in his future endeavors.”

Guirlinger says in a statement that Wynn’s “devotion to TCF will ensure that we will continue to serve the public, the nonprofit community, and the fund holders who place their trust in our organization to fulfill their philanthropic goals.”

Before joining Duke, Wynn served for 28 years as president of Durham Technical Community College.

Lori O’Keefe continues to serve as vice president for philanthropic services and chief operating officer.

Guided by Wynn, a former Foundation board chair, and by the Foundation’s senior management team, Guirlinger’s letter says, revenues in the fiscal year ended June 30 grew 36 percent, grantmaking and programs continued to support the community, and the Foundation successfully completed and implemented a new strategic plan.

The foundation manages $146 million in funds established by families, businesses, individuals, and organizations, makes grants from those funds to nonprofits, and administers a variety of programs to benefit the community.

That includes over 750 funds that range in size from $10,000 to $10 million, mainly for the benefit of Wake, Durham, Orange and Chatham counties.

In the most recent fiscal year, the foundation granted over $13 million to nonprofits, schools and community efforts.

Bensen, who was hired following a national search conducted by Jorgenson Consulting in Greensboro, previously had managed MDC’s daily operations, including its financial, human resources, and information-technology functions, and played a key role in developing and implementing short and long-range strategic planning.

In mid-July 2011, six weeks after Bazan was given an immediate, “indefinite” paid sabbatical, the foundation announced she would not be returning.

Bazan recently joined United Way of Metropolitan Chicago as senior vice president of resource development after serving as the Chicago-based national operation vote regional director for President Obama’s reelection campaign.