New York, N.Y. In continuing a tradition of excellence in leadership, Community Resource Exchange (CRE) today announced the appointment of Tiloma Jayasinghe as its new President & CEO, effective January 4, 2021.
Tiloma joins CRE from Donors of Color Network, where she served as Director of Member Organizing. Previously, Tiloma served as Executive Director of Sakhi for South Asian Women, and Chief Program Officer at Nonprofit New York.
“Building on the myriad achievements of Katie Leonberger, CRE’s highly-respected outgoing leader, Tiloma will carry the torch in advancing CRE toward our next stage of strategic, responsive organizational growth and impact,” said Brooke Richie-Babbage, CRE Chair of the Board.
“Her deep commitment to social change and solutions that promote justice and protection of vulnerable communities is well-aligned with CRE’s mission to improve lives and drive social change,” she said, adding “We are especially thrilled that Tiloma is committed to further accelerating CRE’s commitment to becoming an anti-racist organization and to dismantling anti-Blackness. Her uniquely combined sense of passion, compassion, adventure, and excitement about CRE’s future round out the determinants of our confidence and selection.”
"I have had the privilege of working with CRE as a colleague in the capacity-building sphere," said Tiloma. "I am honored and excited to take the helm from the brilliant Katie Leonberger and steward this beloved, well-respected institution into its new phase of growth and impact."
“Just as the Board and Staff look forward to supporting Tiloma through a soft landing and new levels of success for CRE, we share a deep fondness, great respect, and immense appreciation for Katie, who steadfastly led CRE for the last six years,” Richie-Babbage said. “She first announced her transition in February, and after the onset of COVID-19, graciously extended (and re-extended) her timeline to support the Board’s ability to navigate a thoughtful search process”.
“Katie now leaves an enduring mark on CRE, with accomplishments that include significantly increasing CRE’s visibility and thought partnership; launching new practice areas; strengthening organizational infrastructure; increasing the number of organizations CRE supports to more than 500 each year; and increasing CRE’s budget by more than 60%”.
"I am thrilled that Tiloma will be leading CRE into its next phase. She is a proven, creative leader who brings deep knowledge of our sector, incredible energy, strong alignment with CRE values, and valuable cross-sector experience that will serve CRE, our team, our clients - and the larger sector - tremendously well," said Leonberger.
Tracey Allard, CRE’s Director of Culture & Equity Strategies, will serve as Interim President & CEO. Tracey, also a member of the CRE Management Team, brings expertise as a former executive director, great love for CRE, and firm commitment to the collective success of CRE to this role.
ABOUT CRE
For more than 40 years, CRE has prepared leaders and strengthened organizations to drive social change, providing the strategies and tools needed to build equitable and sustainable, high-performing organizations. In 2020, CRE provided consulting and leadership development support to more than 500 nonprofits. As a social sector organization committed to becoming an anti-racist organization and dismantling anti-Blackness, we incorporate a racial equity lens into all of our internal and external work.
