Seattle International Foundation (SIF) announces that its Senior Program Officer Olga Vnodchenko will be leaving the organization as of July 1, 2022, to begin a new phase in her professional career. SIF thanks Olga for her leadership at the helm of the Independent Journalism Fund (IJF) and the Impact Services portfolio, programs to be assumed by Mirte Postema y Belén Franco, respectively.
Olga joined SIF in 2014 as an administrative assistant. Throughout her nearly eight years at SIF she served as operations and finance associate, grants administrator and grants and program officer in our Seattle office. As Senior Program Officer, she took charge of Centroamérica Adelante (CAA), our program that fostered three cycles of leadership promotion training. Subsequently, she took on our Impact Services portfolio, which engages individuals and organizations in the United States to support civil society and organizations in Central America and Mexico.
In 2016, Olga assumed leadership of the IJF and developed a solid strategy to support independent journalism in Central America. Today, IJF is the Foundation’s second largest program and one that will benefit the work of journalists and independent media in the region for years to come.
In each of her roles, Olga has demonstrated a strong identification with SIF´s mission and values, as well as a genuine commitment to the situation of the people, groups, and organizations we work with. Her professionalism, humility, dedication, and sensitivity are the hallmarks of everything she does and marked her time at SIF.
We are grateful for Olga´s leadership and legacy at SIF and, while we will miss her deeply, we are happy to know that she will continue her career in philanthropy and that more people and organizations will continue to benefit from her great commitment to creating more just and equitable societies. We wish her many more successes.
As of July 1, Mirte Postema, Senior Program Officer Mirte Postema will spearhead the Independent Journalism Fund, along with her current role managing SIF’s Anti-Impunity Fund, and Belén Franco Zaldívar will assume responsibility for SIF’s Impact Services portfolio in addition to her current work as SIF’s Grants Manager.
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- Olga Vnodchenko
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- Mirte Postema
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- Belén Franco
