Power moves: Who run the world?

It seems fitting on the day after the first woman vice president was sworn-in at the nation’s capitol, that our column chronicling changes across the social impact sector should focus on women in leadership.

Here are five women recently named to new positions within local and national organizations. While you read about their accomplishments, listen to the playlist we created in their honor.

1. Brenda L. Marrero to become the executive director of the Public Interest Law Center.

The Public Interest Law Center  recently announced that Brenda Marrero will become its next executive director. Her appointment is effective March 1, and follows the departure of the current executive director, Jennifer R. Clarke, who will be stepping down in February after a 15-year tenure.

Marrero will be the first person of color to lead the 51-year-old civil rights nonprofit that fights against discrimination and poverty.

Marrero joins the organization after serving 12 years at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, most recently as the deputy director of operations and chief inclusion and diversity officer, but previously as the managing attorney of the SSI Unit and staff attorney in the Aging and Disabilities unit. Earlier in her career she served as team leader at Maximus, and staff attorney at the AIDS Law Project of Philadelphia.

Marrero is on the board of Justice at Work and the Hispanic Bar Association, and served as a past chair of the Public Interest Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association. She is also a member of The Forum of Executive Women, a Philadelphia-based group dedicated to elevating women leaders in the region.

“As a Latina immigrant woman, I am very privileged to be where I am today, and I want to thank the board and staff for putting their faith in me to lead them in the next exciting chapter for the Law Center,” she said in the emailed announcement of her new post. “It is also very special to me that, as a woman of color, I have the opportunity to diversify leadership at the executive director level within our family of Philadelphia public interest organizations.”

“This is a trailblazing organization,” Marrero added. “The work of public interest legal services is critical and necessary to advance racial justice and racial equity in our client communities. I look forward to providing meaningful and engaged leadership to the dedicated and amazing staff, board and external partners in furthering the mission, vision and values we all hold so dearly.”

Marrero holds a bachelor’s degree from Mount Saint Mary’s University, and her law degree from Temple University’s James E. Beasley School of Law.

2. Tiffany Tavarez is now the senior vice president and business solutions leader for Wells Fargo Advisors.

After serving more than three years as the vice president of community relations at Wells Fargo, Tiffany Tavarez was named senior vice president and business solutions leader for Wells Fargo Advisors in January.

“In this newly created national role, I will work to maximize community impact, strengthen relationships with WFA clients and external stakeholders while working with key business partners to ensure that corporate priorities can be executed by local leaders while elevating diversity, equity and inclusion,” Tavarez told Generocity via email.

Though the post is national, she will continue to reside in Philadelphia.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Tavarez served for four years as corporate contributions manager at PECO; as assistant to the president of the Comcast Foundation; development manager at First-Person Arts; assistant director of development and alumni affairs at Temple University; and as program assistant at the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage.

She serves on the board of Esperanza, is a commissioner of Gov. Tom Wolf’s Pennsylvania Commission for Women, and a member of Temple Contemporary Advisory Council. She was previously the vice-chair of the board of Mural Arts Philadelphia; an advisory board member of PHLDiversity; and a member of the diversity advisory committee of Philadelphia Magazine, among many other board posts.

Tavarez has often been featured by Generocity, most recently:

• Forward Focus: Tiffany Tavarez discusses navigating the world of philanthropy as a woman of color
• 5 lessons from Black Women in PHLanthropy
• ‘What has the most significant impact on leadership of color?’ 16 Philly-area leaders answer our question

She holds a bachelor’s degree from Temple University and a master’s degree from University of the Arts.

3. Kee Tobar becomes the race equity and inclusion director at Community Legal Services.

Kee Tobar, who has been serving as a disability justice attorney at Community Legal Services, has been named the first race equity and inclusion director for the organization, effective in February.

Tobar previously worked at CLS’s youth justice project as a Stoneleigh Emerging Leader Fellow. Before joining CLS, Tobar was a Zubrow Fellow at Juvenile Law Center and helped launch the Legal Center for Youth Justice and Education as well as leading the Juvenile Justice Working Group for Philadelphia’s 100-Day Homelessness Challenge.

Tobar is also the developer of Safenight, an app that helps connect queer youth who need housing with vetted hosts who can offer a safe place to stay for up to five night, and has written about the intersection of race and disability, including this opinion piece at Generocity.

“Kee is a brilliant, creative, and thoughtful lawyer, who is also an extremely talented justice and equity advocate and communicator,” Caitlin Brown, CLS’s director of advancement and communications, told Generocity in an email. “In this role, Kee will provide strategic vision for and leadership of CLS’ substantive racial justice work and our DEI Committee. She will play a leadership role in community based racial justice and race equity work and coalition building to advance the interests of our client communities. She will also be involved in thinking through retention strategies and policies for CLS. This is an important step for CLS and we are grateful to Kee for taking on and shaping this new role.

Tobar holds a bachelor’s degree from Alabama A&M University and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

4. Cecily Macy is named head of fund development at Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania.

Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, the eighth largest council in the country, announced that Cecily Macy was appointed head of fund development.

Most recently Macy was the VP for development for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Prior to joining PAFA, Macy was the manager of individual giving at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, and the alumni relations and development officer at Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall School.

She previously served as the development chair of the intensive care nursery family advisory council at Penn Medicine.

“Cecily is a highly effective development leader who not only understands our mission at Girl Scouts but also takes pride in generating the annual capital needed to create the best learning experiences and opportunities for our members,” said Kim E. Fraites-Dow, CEO of GSEP, via an announcement email. “She takes on the role of an important member of the Senior Management Team, and will work closely with the Board to initiate, develop, and strengthen partnerships on behalf of GSEP.”

Macy holds a bachelor’s degree from Connecticut College.

5. Yvette Núñez is now the deputy VP of communications and marketing at UnidosUS.

We are belatedly marking that Yvette Núñez became the deputy vice president of communications and marketing at UnidosUS (formerly National Council of La Raza) late last year.

Before joining UnidosUS, Núñez had served as the VP of civic affairs at the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia for more than three years, and served, first as VP of fundraising and external affairs and then as the chief communications officer, at Congreso de Latinos Unidos for nearly six years before that. Earlier in her career she served as a media specialist, president, deputy VP of external affairs, director of communications and chair at the U.S. Census Bureau, Philadelphia Public Relations Association, Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha, Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation, and Latino Employment Opportunities Network, respectively.

Núñez is an appointee of the PA State Advisory Committee of the US Commission on Civil Rights, where she has served for the past four years.

Núñez holds a bachelor’s degree from Temple University and a master’s degree from Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania.