photo caption: Surina Khan CEO Emerita (left) and Bia Vieira CEO (right)
This week, Women’s Foundation California is experiencing a feminist power shift. Surina Khan, our longtime leader and the heart of our feminist organization, will become the CEO Emerita. For nearly two decades, her leadership provided clarity as we built community power by trusting and investing in grassroots women of color and gender expansive leaders. We are thrilled to officially welcome Bia Vieira as the new CEO, and the Foundation’s first Queer Latine to serve in the role.
Surina has played an integral part in strengthening our long-term commitment to racial, economic, and gender justice. Last year, the Foundation launched its first-ever round of multi-year grantmaking. While grants are presently awarded for a three-year period, efforts are underway to extend this to five years to better support transformative community change. Building on Surina’s work and deep ties to community, our goal is to continue strengthening all that she has done to lay a strong foundation for the next leader who will take us to even greater heights.
Our entire community is excited to support Bia and the next era of WFC’s feminist leadership. Bia, originally from Brazil, is a longtime activist who supports women’s and LGBTQIA rights, as well as arts and culture. She has worked as the Chief Strategist for Programs at WFC for the past five years and has held senior-level positions at the Philadelphia Community Foundation and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees. We are confident in Bia’s leadership to help harness our collective power and shift more money to movements.
Our leadership transition model prioritizes trust, care, courage, confidence, generosity, unity, and clarity, and is crucial for both succession planning and the long-term sustainability of WFC. We invite you to support our Leadership Transition Fund and help build our feminist future today.
Thank you for being part of this special moment in WFC’s history and supporting our tradition of growing and nurturing our own feminist leaders.