The Board of Directors for the Taco/White Family Foundation, at their end-of-year meeting in December, elected Marjorie Houston of Westport, Mass., as the new president of the foundation, effective Jan. 1, 2016.

Houston, a nationally recognized expert in gift planning for individuals and families, succeeds retiring president Thomas Farrell of Saunderstown.

A board member of the Taco/White Family Foundation since 2015, Houston worked for the United Way of RI after graduating from the University of Rhode Island. She then spent 26 years in fundraising and development for two major local area schools, Brown University and Wheaton College.

Houston worked for Brown from 1986 until 2000 and served as executive director for gift planning in her last position with the Ivy League school. She then went on to Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., where she served in various development positions culminating in her appointment as interim vice president for advancement in 2014. She was responsible for record fundraising results for the Wheaton Fund that year.

A native Rhode Islander who grew up in the Edgewood neighborhood of Cranston, Houston has served on the boards of local and national professional organizations, including serving as president of the RI Planned Giving Council. She has been an invited speaker at many national conferences and published numerous articles in leading professional journals.

In announcing her election as the new president of the foundation, Taco owner and CEO John Hazen White Jr. commented: “Marjorie brings extensive experience in fundraising and development to the foundation board. She has been an integral part of Brown and Wheaton’s record-setting capital campaigns in the past. Because she knows the process from the asking side, she can assist our board in managing key requests and strengthening important community relationships. We look forward to her knowledge and guidance in steering the way ahead for the foundation.”

Houston succeeds former Johnson & Wales Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and longtime friend of the White Family Thomas Farrell. Farrell started his association with Taco and the White family in the 1980s while still at Johnson & Wales, and he served as foundation president since 2005. He was instrumental in developing the foundation as Taco’s charitable arm and in managing long-term relationships with major RI non-profits across a giving spectrum stretching from arts/music, education, healthcare, community service, and environmental focus areas.

During his tenure as president of the Taco/White Family Foundation, he helped establish a number of major gifts to organizations, large and small, such as the RI Philharmonic, Trinity Square, FirstWorks, Butler Hospital, the Providence Center, RI Free Clinic, URI’s College of Engineering, and others. From his love of theater and performance, he secured the Taco Broadway Series annual sponsorship with the Providence Performing Arts Center. In doing so he advanced the foundation as a major charitable player in Rhode Island, which led to Taco’s 2014 receipt of the “Outstanding Philanthropic Corporation award” presented by the RI Chapter, Association of Fundraising Professionals based on a nomination submitted by RI PBS.

“Starting with his great friendship with my parents, Tom Farrell has been a trusted friend of Taco and the White family for a long time,” adds John White Jr. “He has provided invaluable assistance and counsel to us every step of the way. The success of the Taco/White Family Foundation today – providing a million dollars each year to worthy non-profits in our state – is a direct result of his dedication, hard work, and boundless goodwill in helping others. His laughter and enthusiasm will be hard to replace, and he will be greatly missed.”

In recognition of his contributions, Farrell was named president emeritus of the foundation, and an annual Taco student scholarship will be named in his honor.

For more information, visit tacowhitefamilyfoundation.com.