by BTL staff
NEW YORK –
Following an extensive search, the Arcus Foundation named Dr. Yvette C. Burton as its new chief executive officer, effective Jan. 4, 2011. She replaces Urvashi Vaid, who left in June.
"Yvette is an intelligent, talented leader and a passionate advocate who is the ideal person to lead Arcus forward as we take on new challenges and opportunities," said Jon Stryker, president and founder of the Arcus Foundation. "She has a unique professional history of accomplishment in both the corporate and nonprofit worlds, playing key roles in growing businesses and organizations. We considered a number of very strong candidates with impressive backgrounds. In the end, however, it was very clear that Yvette is perfectly suited to build on Arcus' tremendous success and take the organization into a new era of leadership."
For over a decade, Burton has served as a managing global business development executive, business transformation strategist, and market development research director for IBM's Sales and General Business Services divisions. She has also led IBM's commercial strategy for global LGBT partnerships and advised numerous multinational companies on their internal and external outreach to the LGBT community.
She has extensive experience working for LGBT organizations and causes, with a focus on health care advocacy and service delivery. From 1992-1994, she was the Director of Lesbian Health for the New York City Department of Health, where she designed and directed the City of New York's first department focused on policy development, ethnographic research and program implementation of lesbian health issues. She administered technical assistance grants to community and AIDS service organizations. As the director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center's Project Connect (1992-1994), Burton led and designed substance abuse prevention and intervention social service programs for LGBT individuals and their families. She also managed the creation, pursuit and implementation of government and private grants.
"I am thrilled and energized to be joining the Arcus Foundation, an organization that is so highly respected and valued in its mission areas," said Burton. "Nonprofits and companies alike are increasingly challenged to address justice on a social scale. The Arcus Foundation is a unique place of both innovation and impact. I am very excited to work with Jon, and grateful for the opportunity to work with such an accomplished team of leaders."
Burton has received a number of awards and recognitions for her work serving, leading and advising the LGBT community. This year, she was given the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center's Award for Visionary Leadership and the Metropolitan Church of New York Award for Exceptional Corporate Leadership on LGBT Issues. In 2009, she received both a GMHC Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in GLBT Equality and HIV Advocacy and a Stonewall Foundation Honor for Outstanding Women.
Her current leadership roles in the LGBT community include her membership on the LGBT Task Force of the NAACP and the New York Steering Committee of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. She is also a member of the Gill Foundation Corporate Giving Advisory Council. Other past leadership roles include: past board director of the Empire State Pride Agenda; a founding board director of the Audre Lorde Project, serving LGBT communities of color; a former director of the Lesbian Health for the City of New York; founding project lead of the service delivery component of the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center of New York; former co-chair of the Out and Equal Annual Summit, Washington, DC; and a past national co-chair of the board of directors of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
Burton earned her PhD in Organizational Systems and Human Development from Fielding Institute and has studied management at the Wharton Business School. She holds a master's degree in Criminal Justice and Procedural Law from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and did her undergraduate studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
For more information, visit the Arcus Foundation's website at http://www.arcusfoundation.org.
