The Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank, announced that Lysa Israel, of Belle Meade, has joined the organization as its senior director of development.
“Lysa’s career and her focus on regional, statewide and national concerns is crucial as the Count Basie Center for the Arts looks to increase its footprint through partnership programs and our work in the field of arts education,” said Adam Philipson, president and CEO, Count Basie Center for the Arts. “Her familiarity with the philanthropic community will prove crucial as the Basie Center successfully navigates its way out of the of the pandemic crisis.”
Israel, who was raised in Ocean County and Rumson, has spent more than 25 years in fundraising and development, most recently as vice president of development for the Somerset Health Care Foundation.
Israel joins the nonprofit Basie Center as it works to overcome the financial strains of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Basie’s 95-year-old historic theater has been shuttered since March, canceling or postponing nearly 100 performances and erasing the nonprofit’s primary source of revenue.
While the center’s second venue, The Vogel, opened for small audiences in October, and the Basie Center Academy has remained operational online and through limited onsite classes, the economic realities remain, with losses surpassing $8 million for calendar year 2020, according to a press release.
Todd Shellenberger has been named executive director of the Hackensack Meridian Riverview Medical Center Foundation, Red Bank.
“Riverview Medical Center will benefit tremendously from Todd’s expansive development career, which spans more than 13 years,” said Joseph Stampe, president and chief development officer of the Hackensack Meridian – Meridian Health Foundation, to which Riverview Medical Center Foundation belongs.
“I am so pleased he chose to join the foundation and know that under his leadership and experience, the organization will continue to hit and exceed its fundraising goals, which ultimately benefits Riverview Medical Center and the community,” Stampe said.
In his most recent position, Shellenberger was vice president of development for Make-A-Wish America, a position he held for five years and in which he led a national development team to grow revenue by more than 51%. Prior to that, Shellenberger was vice president of development at Make-A-Wish New Jersey, where he helped that chapter become a fundraising leader of the 60 national chapters.
Shellenberger lives in Upper Freehold Township with his wife Nicole and their three children.