Mark Wickham, president and chief executive officer of Rochester’s Catholic Family Center since December 2011, left his position at the end of October.
According to a statement from CFC, Wickham stepped down from the leadership role “to pursue other opportunities.” He has been replaced on an interim basis by Jack Balinsky, director of diocesan Catholic Charities, of which CFC is a regional agency.
Wickham had come to Catholic Family Center nearly two years ago after serving for nine years as CEO of Lakeview Mental Health in Geneva. At CFC he replaced Carolyn Portanova, who retired as president/CEO after 37 years of overall service there.
Balinsky, who has led diocesan Catholic Charities since 1992, will remain at the helm of CFC until a permanent replacement is named. He told the Catholic Courier that he attended a meeting of CFC’s board of directors Oct. 30 during which plans were made to search for a new president/CEO.
“We certainly want to move as quickly as possible,” Balinsky said, adding that no precise timetable has been established.
Despite the recent departures of Wickham and John Pennell, former chief financial officer, Balinsky lauded CFC’s other leadership in preserving the agency’s reputation as Monroe County’s largest provider of human services. Balinsky said that even before his interim leadership role, he already had spent considerable time working with CFC, which represents $25 million of diocesan Catholic Charities’ overall annual budget of $65 million.
Tags: Diocesan Appointments
