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Manager Selection

Heinz Endowments Name New President

The Heinz family announced the appointment of Chris DeCardy after a 10-month search to fill the role.
By Dusty Hagedorn


The Heinz Endowments announced that Chris DeCardy will become their new president, succeeding Grant Oliphant, who departed the organization in February 2022 to join the Conrad Prebys Foundation as CEO. [Source]

The endowments, named after Howard Heinz and Vira I. Heinz, pursue philanthropy by primarily targeting aid within the region of southwestern Pennsylvania. They have about $2.1 billion in assets and awarded grants totaling $92 million in 2022. DeCardy will officially take the helm in April 2023.

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“I have long admired the extraordinary work of The Heinz Endowments’ Board and staff in close partnership with the community. I am excited and honored to be joining one of our nation’s most influential and respected foundations,” said DeCardy in the press release. “The Endowments and the Heinz family have a distinguished history of addressing the most important issues of the day for families and individuals, with impact not only locally, but also nationally. Continuity across the Endowments’ current grantmaking areas with a look to greater impact, given present economic and social dynamics will be a top priority.”

“We have found a leader whose values align with our long-standing commitment to serve our region in ways that not only help sustain the invaluable work of our nonprofits, but which help them to develop, flourish and maximize their impact,” said board chairman André Heinz in the press release. “The Pittsburgh community will benefit enormously from the exemplary leadership experience Chris brings to the Endowments and his work as a passionate, thoughtful and respected collaborator across the broad philanthropic sector.”

Most recently, DeCardy was the acting CEO of the ClimateWorks Foundation, where he oversaw a team of researchers, strategists, collaborators and grantmakers dedicated to ending the climate crisis. Prior to this role, DeCardy spent more than 18 years at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, where he served as vice president and director of programs leading program design for one of the largest U.S. grantmaking foundations.

Before his tenure at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, DeCardy had a background in strategic communications, network advocacy and program development, previously helping to launch, then manage, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental communications nonprofit, Environmental Media Services (now called Resource Media). The initiative was credited as being a “mainstay for environmental journalists” in its reporting of federal and international environmental news.

DeCardy earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.

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Home > News > Corporate Moves > NYC Pension Fund-Led Group Strikes Deal With Apple on Workers’ Rights to Organize
Corporate Moves

NYC Pension Fund-Led Group Strikes Deal With Apple on Workers’ Rights to Organize

Tech giant agrees to publish independent assessment on employees’ rights to unionize.
By Michael Katz

 


A group of investors led by New York City’s pension fund system has reached an agreement with Apple under which the tech giant will conduct an independent assessment of the company’s compliance with its commitments to its workers’ rights relating to organizing and collective bargaining. [Source]

The assessment will also review Apple management’s practices when employees seek to exercise their rights to form or join a union. Under the agreement, Apple will publicly release the results of the assessment by the end of the year.

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The coalition of investors, which collectively own approximately 53 million Apple shares worth approximately $7.2 billion, includes Trillium ESG Global Equity Fund, SOC Investment Group, Parnassus Investments, Service Employees International Union Pension Plans Master Trust and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund.

“Workers organizing at Apple for a collective voice in their workplace have reported strong pushback from the company—that flies in the face of Apple’s stated human rights commitment to workers’ freedom of association,” New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said in a statement. “I’m grateful to Apple’s board of directors for listening to the concerns of shareholders regarding worker rights and hope the company will heed the findings of the third-party assessment.”

The agreement comes as Apple employees have increasingly called for unionizing at its stores in the U.S. In June, workers at an Apple store in Towson, Maryland, formed the company’s first retail union in the U.S. after a vote to unionize. It also follows a shareholder proposal filed by the coalition in September that originally called for the assessment.

The New York City Comptroller’s office said there have been “numerous reports” of Apple’s interference with its workers’ freedom of association in organizing efforts. It noted that as of August 25, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board was investigating 14 charges of unfair labor practices involving the company.

In its shareholder letter, the coalition said that since 2021, Apple employees have accused the company of using “intimidation tactics to deter organizing, including one-on-one manager meetings, captive audience meetings, retaliatory firings, and threats of reduction or elimination of benefits.”

The letter also said that the “the apparent misalignment between Apple’s public commitments and its reported conduct represents meaningful reputational, legal, and operational risks, and may negatively impact its long-term value.”

Representatives from Apple did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

 

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