The COLOURS Organization Inc. last month named a new interim executive director after the agency’s founder stepped down from the position he’d held for nearly two years.
Michael Hinson left his post as interim executive director in March, and the board of directors appointed Robert Burns, who most recently served as the organization’s deputy director, in mid-April.
Hinson did not respond to a request for comment on his reason for leaving.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Burns has lived in the city for seven years.
Prior to joining COLOURS two years ago, Burns, 35, worked for four years as the director of The Collective, a joint HIV-prevention effort by Mazzoni Center, ASIAC and Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative.
Burns said he was drawn to COLOURS because of its unique mission and his own passion for working with marginalized communities.
“I wanted to work with LGBT communities of color, so that’s really what attracted me to COLOURS. And it also fell in alignment with my work at the time for school,” Burns said.
When he came to COLOURS, Burns was pursuing his master’s in human services, with a concentration in counseling, from Lincoln University — which he finished last year — and focused his studies on the LGBT community.
Burns said he’s eager to guide COLOURS toward its next milestone and is looking to expand the organization’s reach and influence.
“I really want to look at moving the agency in a new direction,” he said. “I want to expand upon our existing programming, in particular as we move forward with our 20th anniversary in 2011. I want to begin moving into areas focusing on training and building the capacity of nontraditional communities around LGBT issues.”
Burns said the board is still searching for a permanent director.
Hinson founded COLOURS in 1991 and served as its executive director until 2001, when he went to work for Mayor John Street’s administration as the city’s LGBT liaison. He was named as COLOURS’ interim executive director in July 2008, appointed to the role after the termination of former executive director Victor Seltzer.
Seltzer had taken the reigns of the organization from Dorena Kearney, who last year was indicted on charges of embezzling money from the agency and is currently serving a one-year prison sentence.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].