The Surdna Foundation announced that Michelle Knapik, director of the foundation’s Sustainable Environments program, has accepted a position as the next President of the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation in New Haven, Conn. effective May 12, 2014.
"The entire Surdna community is thrilled for Michelle. She has had an extraordinary three–year tenure at Surdna,” said Phillip Henderson, President of Surdna. “While we will miss her exemplary leadership, both within Surdna and out in the field, and her deep dedication to the work and to Surdna’s grantees, it is in large part due to her efforts and the remarkable team she’s built that our Sustainable Environments program is in such a strong position. We congratulate Michelle and wish her the best in her exciting new position with the Tremaine Foundation.”
Knapik joined the Surdna Foundation in 2011 following six years as the director of the Environment Program at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation in New Jersey.
During Knapik’s tenure, Surdna refined its environmental grantmaking to focus on overhauling the country’s low-performing and obsolete infrastructure with a “next generation” infrastructure intended to foster healthier, sustainable, and just communities. The key lines of work under the next generation infrastructure frame include transportation networks and equitable development patterns, energy in the built environment, urban water management, and region food supply.