DENVER – Rose Community Foundation announced today that Christiano Sosa and Mary Haynes will be joining the Rose Community Foundation leadership team. As Vice President of Community Impact, Sosa will lead the department focused on strategic deployment of discretionary grantmaking dollars, collaborative partnerships and other tools at the Foundation’s disposal to help drive strategic impact in the seven-county Metro Denver region. As Director of Talent and Administration, Haynes will lead the Foundation’s human resource and office administration functions with a focus on professional development and learning, diversity, equity and inclusion practices, organizational culture and volunteer engagement.
“We are beyond excited to welcome Christiano and Mary to Team Rose,” said Rose Community Foundation President and CEO Lindy Eichenbaum Lent. “They are both amazing human beings who bring deep community relationships, extensive professional expertise, inspiring track records of service and impact, and powerful lived experiences to their new roles and to the Foundation’s work to advance inclusive, engaged and equitable Greater Denver communities through values-driven philanthropy.”
Christiano Sosa has served Coloradans for 25 years in both the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. As The Arc of Colorado’s executive director since 2017, he led public policy efforts to promote and protect the rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities while managing a statewide membership organization with 14 local chapters. He previously spent 12 years at The Denver Foundation where, as director of capacity building and philanthropic partnerships, he established grantmaking programs for donor-directed grants and oversaw the technical assistance grantmaking program. A member of the Regis University faculty for 13 years, Sosa has taught courses on philanthropy and asset-based community development. As a former executive director of the Northern Colorado AIDS Project, he worked to equitably meet the evolving needs of people affected by HIV and other health conditions through prevention, care and advocacy. Sosa also previously served as a Gill Foundation program officer, a regional prevention specialist at Rocky Mountain Center for Health Education & Promotion, and as Project Angel Heart’s director of client services.
Sosa is currently a trustee for the University of Denver’s Iliff School of Theology and the Colorado Disability Partnership. He previously served as board president of Mi Casa Resource Center, chair of the Denver Office of Strategic Partnerships commission and a board member of Social Venture Partners Denver. A former Colorado Trust Fellow, he was named the 2011 Man of the Year by the Denver Gay and Lesbian Chamber. Sosa has a has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Colorado State University and a masters in nonprofit management from Regis University. His first day at Rose Community Foundation will be May 23, 2022.
“I am honored to join Rose Community Foundation, a unique organization built on justice, equity, and generosity,” said Sosa. “I look forward to serving the vast array of nonprofits, donors, and community leaders driving transformation throughout Greater Denver. It is an exciting time to join arms with such a dedicated, driven, and diverse team embedded in the community and with an eye on the future.”
Mary Haynes has more than three decades of experience in administration, college admission, program development, coaching and facilitation in the educational, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. Haynes spent 21 years at the Daniels Fund where – as the senior scholar relations officer and Boundless Opportunity Scholarship program officer – she managed the college scholarship program for students from diverse and under-resourced communities while cultivating new initiatives to increase educational access and support. She has held admissions, student affairs and administrative leadership roles at Stanford University, Colorado State University, University of Denver and The Logan School for Creative Learning. Most recently Mary served as a program director at the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation.
Currently serving on the boards of Mental Health Center of Denver, the Denver Black Reparations Council and the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development, Mary previously served as a mentor for the Circle of Latina Leadership and on the boards of Make a Chess Move, Metro Volunteers of Denver and Judi’s House. Mary was a 2019 “Women Who Slay” honoree from Colorado Black Women for Political Action, a 2015 Influential Women of Color honoree from the Colorado Black Roundtable, and she and her family were jointly honored with a 2015 Heart of Volunteerism Award from Metro Volunteers and a 2006 Maverick Thinkers Award from Urban Peak. The first African American female to win a Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for academic excellence and community service from Stanford University, she has a bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis in organizational behavior from Stanford University as well as certifications in coaching, mediation and facilitation. Her first day at Rose Community Foundation was April 13, 2022.
“Born and raised in Denver with deep multi-generational roots in the Black and Chicano/Latinx communities, my lived experiences of navigating systemic racism and finding my voice to advocate for others inspires me to join Rose Community Foundation where its bold strategic vision aligns with my core values,” Haynes said.
About Rose Community Foundation
Rose Community Foundation strives to advance inclusive, engaged and equitable Greater Denver communities through values-driven philanthropy. The Foundation envisions a thriving region strengthened by its diversity and generosity, and it utilizes the varied tools at its disposal – grantmaking, advocacy and philanthropic services – to advance this aspiration. Since its founding in 1995, the Foundation has granted more than $350 million to over 2,000 organizations and initiatives, including nearly $60 million in facilitated grantmaking from donor-advised funds. The Foundation also supports 75 nonprofit organizations in creating and growing endowments to sustain their vital work into the future, currently stewarding $58 million in endowed assets. The Foundation has $375 million in total assets under management, with annual grantmaking of over $20 million.