Foundation Center - Board of Trustees

Melissa A. Berman

President and CEO
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
New York, NY

Melissa is president and CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inc., an innovative nonprofit philanthropy service founded by the Rockefeller family. Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors' mission is to help donors create thoughtful, effective philanthropy throughout the world. The organization manages foundations and trusts; structures giving programs and major gifts; offers a charitable giving fund; and coordinates donor collaboratives. In 2008, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors managed or facilitated $175 million in giving to 30 countries. It has offices in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

A frequent speaker, Ms. Berman has been profiled in the New York Times and the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Her ideas and views are featured regularly in the Economist, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Financial Times, USA Today, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has been interviewed on the Today Show, NPR, CNBC-TV, and Bloomberg. She has written articles for the New York Times, Across the Board, the Miami Herald, and other national publications.

Ms. Berman has led Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors since January 2001. Previously, she served as senior vice president, research and program development, at the Conference Board, a nonprofit, independent business research organization. She oversaw all research and publications on management practices, including global corporate citizenship and governance.

Ms. Berman is a director of City Harvest and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. She is adjunct associate professor at Columbia University's Business School. She serves as a member of the national advisory panel for New Ventures in Philanthropy and as a judge for the Ron Brown Award for Corporate Citizenship, a presidential award.

Ms. Berman holds a B.A. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

John Colborn

Vice President, Operations
Ford Foundation
New York, NY

John Colborn is vice president, operations, at the Ford Foundation and is responsible for overseeing grants administration, information technology, New York headquarters operations, and overseas operations. He joined the foundation as a grantmaker in the workforce development field. He's been active in several foundation-related affinity groups, including networks of funders focusing on community colleges, program-related investments, and workforce development.

Prior to joining the Ford Foundation, John worked for over 12 years for a variety of nonprofit organizations, most recently the Reinvestment Fund, a community development financial institution serving the greater Philadelphia region. He headed the capacity-building, training, and technical assistance affiliate of the Reinvestment Fund and served as director of the Fund's Jobs Initiative, a regional job training and placement effort targeting low-income communities and focused on job training and placement in the manufacturing and data intensive sectors of the regional economy. In addition to workforce and economic development, his professional background includes affordable housing development, community organizing, and trade association management.

John holds Bachelor's degrees in government and economics from Oberlin College and a Master's of Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business.

Patrick Collins

Chief Information Officer and

Director of Knowledge Management

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Menlo Park, CA

Patrick Collins is the chief information officer and director of knowledge management at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. In these capacities, he is responsible for all aspects of the foundation's information technology. He also manages the foundation's videoconferencing grants program, which reduces travel for Hewlett employees and grantees, and a small portfolio of other grants pertaining to information technology.

Before joining the foundation in 2005, Mr. Collins was director of information and communication services at the University of California Office of the President. There he directed the delivery of information technology services to 2,200 employees at UC headquarters and the negotiation and management of $200 million in annual information technology purchases for the UC system. Earlier in his career, Mr. Collins directed two academic data centers: the California Census Research Data Center at UCLA and UC Berkeley and the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect at Cornell University. He also has contributed to scholarly publications as a data analyst, statistician, and author.

Mr. Collins serves on the Nonprofit Technology Network's board of directors; the Foundation Center's board of trustees; and advisory committees for TechSoup, GuideStar, and the Council on Foundations. He received a bachelor of science degree from Cornell University and a master of business administration degree from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, both with honors.

Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker

President and CEO
Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
Buffalo, NY

Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker is president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. She has dedicated her career to improving lives through civic service. Her leadership experience has centered on leading collaborative efforts to solve the most critical problems facing communities. Clotilde is a nationally-recognized spokeswoman on a range of issues including strategic philanthropy, community service, and cultural diversity.

Previously, Clotilde served as the executive director of the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women where she worked to remove gender-based inequities for women addressing issues of representation on boards, domestic violence, and economic self-sufficiency.

She has founded and led numerous initiatives, including a public-private sector collaboration to establish the Family Justice Center of Erie County for victims of domestic violence and the Western New York Women's Fund. Most recently, Clotilde founded the Literacy Funders Network, a national coalition of foundations dedicated to improving literacy in America.

Other service highlights include a White House appointment to the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation, U.S. Committee co-chair of the United Nations International Year of the Volunteer, and president of the Association of Junior Leagues International. Clotilde has served on many national and local boards, including the National Women's Hall of Fame (president), Mayoral Council on Hispanic issues (chair), John R. Oishei Foundation, and the National Federation for Just Communities. Currently she serves as a board member of CFLeads and a national delegate to the Vision 2020-Equality in Sight project.

Clotilde's work has been recognized by many including the Points of Light Foundation, the Governor's Award for Service, and the President's Award for Service. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Canisius College and a Master's degree in Education from the State University of New York at Buffalo and is a distinguished alumna from both. Clotilde is a naturalized U.S. citizen and a native of Cuba.

M. Christine DeVita, Chairman

Former President
The Wallace Foundation
New York, NY

M. Christine DeVita is the former president of the Wallace Foundation, an independent national foundation that is the philanthropic legacy of DeWitt and Lila Acheson Wallace, the founders of the Reader's Digest Association.

DeVita joined the foundation in 1987 and was the president from 1989 until her retirement in June, 2011. Under her leadership, the Wallace Foundation evolved from a collection of small family funds into one of the nation's 40 largest foundations with assets of approximately $1.4 billion and a staff of 32.

The Wallace Foundation aims to improve the lives of disadvantaged children in American cities by providing more opportunities to learn, both in and out of school. In particular, it focuses on improving: the quality of the principals who lead our schools; the use of time devoted to learning through summer programs and expanding time during the traditional school day; and the access to and equitable distribution of quality arts learning and out-of-school-time programs.

In an effort to achieve broad impact, under DeVita's leadership Wallace developed a unified strategy for all of its work, combining program, evaluation, and communication expertise. With its partners, Wallace develops and tests useful ideas "on the ground," gathers credible evidence on the results of significant innovations, and then shares what it has learned with the individuals and institutions that can help bring the best ideas to life in ways that benefit children. Its work was profiled in Creative Philanthropy, by Helmut K. Anheier and Diana Leat and was the subject of two case studies published by the Center for Effective Philanthropy.

The foundation also applies this knowledge-intensive approach internally. Since 2003, it has assessed its own performance in an annual report to its board, using data to measure progress in major program initiatives and assessing its comparative performance among peer foundations on measures including grantee perception, public outreach, strategy, governance, investment performance, and operating expenses. Wallace also posts all of its research and evaluation reports on its website and in 2010 published a 10-year assessment of its work.

DeVita has spoken about innovative philanthropic practices in a variety of venues including the Council on Foundations, Grantmakers for Education, and Duke University. She serves on the board of directors of the Foundation Center (where she is chairman), and the Center for Effective Philanthropy. She is also a member of an advisory task force for the Legal Services Corporation and the visiting committee of Harvard's Graduate School of Education.

Born in New York, DeVita earned her B.A. degree magna cum laude from Queens College of the City University of New York and her J.D. degree cum laude from Fordham University School of Law where she was an editor of the Fordham Law Review. She is admitted to practice in New York and before the United States Supreme Court.

P. Russell Hardin

President
The Robert W. Woodruff Foundation
Atlanta, GA

Russ Hardin is president of the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, Lettie Pate Evans Foundation, and Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation. The Woodruff Foundation is an independent private foundation established by Robert W. Woodruff, longtime chairman of the Coca-Cola Company. The Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, Lettie Pate Evans Foundation, and Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation were established by members of the Joseph B. Whitehead family, one of the two original Coca-Cola bottlers. Although each is governed by a separate charter and self-perpetuating Board of Trustees, the foundations share an office and administrative staff. The Woodruff and Whitehead Foundations support a wide range of charitable activity, principally in Georgia. Identified program interests include education, health, human welfare, the environment, community and economic development, philanthropy and volunteerism, and the arts. In addition, the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation makes scholarship grants for women at colleges and universities in a nine-state region.

Mr. Hardin joined the foundations' staff as secretary in 1988. He became treasurer in 1989, vice president in 1994, and president in 2006. Prior to joining the foundations' staff, Mr. Hardin practiced law with the Atlanta firm of King & Spalding and was associated with the Robinson-Humphrey Company. He also taught a course at the University of Georgia School of Law. Mr. Hardin received his B.A. degree with high distinction from the University of Virginia in 1979, and his J.D. degree with honors from Duke University School of Law in 1982.

Mr. Hardin serves as a director of Gwinnett Industries, Inc. and the Commerce Club in Atlanta. He served as a trustee of the Southeastern Council of Foundations for seven years and as its chairman from 1999 to 2001.

Michael F. Hayes

Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Stamford, CT

Michael Hayes is a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP focusing on alternative investment companies and highly endowed tax-exempt organizations. He has over 17 years of experience conducting, supervising, and managing audit engagements for a myriad of entities. Many of his clients are global organizations with branch offices in Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia. Mr. Hayes has worked closely with a number of these overseas offices with such items as valuation, financial reporting, internal controls, and governance structure. He is a frequent speaker at various events, as well as a recognized subject matter expert within the firm regarding highly-endowed organizations. Most recently, he presented “Sarbanes Oxley and Governance in the Tax-Exempt Community” to a national audience. He is a frequent presenter of other hot topics such as investment valuation and pricing to a number of groups including a round-table group of private foundations in NYC. He is also an advisor to the Audit Committee of Mercy College.

Clients Mr. Hayes has served include: Columbia University, Ford Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Mary Flagler Charitable Trust, Lucent Foundation, Fairfield County Community Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation, Museum of Modern Art, and Jewish Communal Fund. In addition, he has served alternative investment companies such as Angelo, Gordon & Co., Guggenheim Partners, Corbin Capital, Brencourt Capital Advisors, JH Whitney Advisors, and Aurelius Capital Partners.

Mr. Hayes holds a B.S. degree in public accounting from Mercy College. He is a Certified Public Accountant in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

Nancy S. Kami

Executive Director
Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund
San Francisco, CA

Nancy Kami is the executive director of the Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund, a private philanthropic foundation in San Francisco. Prior to joining the Fund in 1997, she served as assistant head and development director for the Hamlin School for 10 years. Nancy began her fundraising career at Brown University and later worked on the capital campaign for KQED Public Broadcasting in San Francisco. She holds an A.B. degree from Brown University and a master's in counseling psychology. Nancy is on the advisory board of the Foundation Center's San Francisco office and serves on the board of trustees of the Bentley School.

Patrick McCarthy

President and CEO
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Baltimore, MD

Patrick McCarthy is the president and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private charitable organization dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the United States. Prior to his becoming president and CEO, McCarthy was the foundation's senior vice president. In that capacity, he oversaw the foundation's work in the areas of health, reproductive health, mental health, substance abuse, juvenile justice, education, early childhood, youth development, child welfare, and income security, as well as the foundation's Strategic Consulting Group and the direct services agency, Casey Family Services.

He was the initiative manager for the foundation's Mental Health Initiative for Urban Children, which promotes neighborhood-based strategies for improving the emotional well-being of kids and families.

Prior to joining the Casey Foundation, McCarthy was senior program officer at the Center for Assessment and Policy Development, where he worked with foundations, states, and cities on system reform and strategic planning. He served as the director of the Division of Youth Rehabilitative Services, director of the Division of Program Support, and administrator of Case Management for the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families, and was director of the Delaware Family Preservation Project. He taught child and family practice, research methods, and statistics at the graduate schools of social work of Bryn Mawr College and the University of Southern California and has experience as a family therapist and administrator in programs for emotionally disturbed youth and drug addicted adults.

McCarthy has a Ph.D. from the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.

Valdemar de Oliveira Neto

Policy Director
Fundación AVINA
Curitiba, Brazil

Valdemar de Oliveira Neto ("Maneto") is Policy Director of Fundación AVINA, a foundation created by Swiss entrepreneur Stephan Schmidheiny to contribute to sustainable development in Latin America. AVINA promotes sustainable development initiatives by encouraging productive alliances between civil society and business leaders and by fostering convergence around action agendas for social change.

Before joining AVINA in 2003, Maneto was founding executive director of Instituto Ethos, a pioneering business membership association which promotes corporate social responsibility in Brazil. Elected as an Ashoka Fellow in 1986, Maneto went on to serve as its vice-president from 1994 to 1998 and was responsible for launching Ashoka's Global Fellowship Program for social entrepreneurs. He began his career as a lawyer and was co-founder of the Centro de Cultura Luis Freire, a pioneering organization that defended human rights and provided legal assistance during Brazil's military dictatorship.

Maneto is presently a board member of GIFE, the leading association of Brazilian grantmakers, and serves as a member of the Stakeholder Advisory Panel on General Electric's Corporate Citizenship Report.

Maneto earned a law degree from Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brazil, in 1982.

George Penick

Head of School
St. Andrew's Episcopal School
Jackson, MS

George Penick assumed the leadership of St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Jackson, Mississippi, beginning in the 2008-09 school year. St. Andrew's is a co-educational, college preparatory day school that serves 1,200 students from pre-kindergarten through grade twelve.

For almost 27 years, Dr. Penick worked in philanthropy, serving as the first president of the Foundation for the Mid South (1990-2006), the first executive director of the Jessie Ball DuPont Fund (1985-1990), and the associate director of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation (1979-1985). Immediately prior to assuming the headship of St. Andrew's, Dr. Penick served for two years as the first director of the RAND Gulf States Policy Institute which was formed by RAND to address the public policy issues caused by the extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

A graduate of Davidson College, Dr. Penick received both a master's and doctorate in educational administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, focusing primarily on educational management, child development, and public policy. He also received a master's in public administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Dr. Penick has served a variety of professional and volunteer organizations, including the Board of Trustees of the Foundation Center, the Council on Foundations, the Southeastern Council of Foundations, Women and Philanthropy, BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Episcopal Relief and Development, the National Cathedral Association, the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson, the Carpathian Foundation, and Davidson College.

Dr. Penick and his family have been a part of the St. Andrew's community for almost 20 years. He and his wife Carol have two children, Holladay and Robert, who are both graduates of St. Andrew's. George and Carol have led the Annual Fund Campaign, and Carol was president of the Parents' Association, served on the Corporation board for many years, and worked in the school's admissions office. The Penicks are communicants of the Cathedral Church of St. Andrew, where Dr. Penick serves on the Vestry.

Bradford K. Smith

President
The Foundation Center
New York, NY

Bradford K. Smith is president of the Foundation Center, a national nonprofit service organization recognized as the nation's leading authority on organized philanthropy. The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. grantmakers and their grants around the world; issues a wide variety of print, electronic, and online information resources; conducts and publishes research on trends in foundation growth, giving, and practice; and offers an array of free and affordable educational programs.

Before joining the Foundation Center in 2008, Mr. Smith was president of the Oak Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland, a major family foundation with programs and grant activities in 41 countries in North America, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. Prior to joining the Oak Foundation he developed and led the Ford Foundation's Peace and Social Justice Program, the foundation's largest program area. During his ten-year tenure as vice president, the program provided hundreds of millions of dollars to organizations working on issues of human rights, international cooperation, governance, and civil society in the U.S. and around the world.

Mr. Smith has devoted his entire career to the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. He first joined the Ford Foundation as a program officer in its Brazil office. Prior to that, he directed the Brazil program of the Inter-American Foundation. At the start of his career, he worked for the YMCA of the USA, both in Costa Rica and New York, where he became manager for world development at its Center for International Management Studies.

Mr. Smith holds an M.A. in economics from the New School for Social Research in New York and a B.A. in anthropology and ethnomusicology from the University of Michigan.

Marcia A. Smith

Former Senior Vice President
The Atlantic Philanthropies
New York, NY

Marcia A. Smith is former senior vice president at The Atlantic Philanthropies, where she oversaw the four program areas and their work in six geographies: Bermuda, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United States and Viet Nam. In addition, she supervised Strategic Learning, Communications and Advocacy.

After joining as vice president in 2008, Ms. Smith helped set the course for Atlantic's final chapter by leading the development and implementation of program strategies guided by Atlantic's social justice framework. Under the refined strategies, grantmaking focuses on public policy advocacy, capacity building and sustainability, with an emphasis on addressing the needs of people who are the least well off. Ms. Smith also guided the foundation's efforts to identify cross-program grantmaking opportunities in the countries in which Atlantic is active.

Ms. Smith was previously president of Firelight Media, an independent, not-for-profit documentary film production company. Under her leadership, Firelight produced more than 15 hours of nonfiction film for cable and public television. Its award-winning productions included Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple and The Murder of Emmett Till, for which Ms. Smith won the 2003 Writers' Guild Award for best documentary writing and received a Primetime Emmy nomination. Ms. Smith is proudest that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) credited The Murder of Emmett Till with helping to spur the DOJ to re-open this 50-year-old case that was key to launching the civil rights movement.

Prior to Firelight, Ms. Smith spent eight years at the Ford Foundation, first as a program officer in rights and social justice, where she managed a portfolio on racial justice, women's rights and media; then as a program officer and, subsequently, deputy director of governance and civil society, and co-chair of the Women's Program Forum. Earlier she served in senior positions in New York City government.

Educated at Brown University, Ms. Smith holds a degree in Media and Social Education from Emerson College, and a Master's Degree in Social Research from Hunter College of the City University of New York. She was a Revson Fellow at Columbia University.

Maureen H. Smyth

Senior Vice President, Programs and Communications
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Flint, MI

Maureen Smyth has been working with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation since 1983 and is currently senior vice president–programs and communications. In this capacity, Ms. Smyth directs the program activities of the foundation, including regular grantmaking programs and special projects operated by the foundation. She also oversees all communications activities. Prior to this, she was vice president–programs; a program officer for the Mott Foundation's Environment Program; and a consulting editor for the foundation's major publications. Ms. Smyth also worked as a legislative liaison for the Michigan Association of School Boards and was a legislative analyst with the Michigan House of Representatives.

Maureen chairs the board of the Great Lakes Protection Fund and serves on the advisory committee for the Michigan Land Use Institute. She is a board member for the Trust for Civil Society for Central and Eastern Europe and has served previously on the boards of the Council of Michigan Foundations, the Environmental Grantmakers Association, and Michigan's Children, and on the Council on Foundation's Legislation and Regulations Committee.

Barron M. Tenny, Vice Chairman

Former Executive Vice President,

Secretary and General Counsel

Ford Foundation
New York, NY

Barron M. Tenny served as executive vice president, secretary and general counsel of the Ford Foundation from 1996 through 2011. He joined the foundation in 1983 as special assistant to the president and was made vice president, secretary and general counsel in 1984.

Prior to joining the foundation, Mr. Tenny spent nine years at the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, a community development organization in Brooklyn, New York. He started as a staff attorney in 1974 and was made general counsel in 1975 and general counsel, vice president and assistant secretary in 1977.

From 1970 to 1974 Mr. Tenny was an associate attorney with the New York law firm of Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst.

Mr. Tenny is Vice Chair of the Foundation Center and chairs the Finance and Investment Advisory Committee on the board of the International Fellowship Fund. He also serves on the boards of the New York Community Trust, the International Center for Transitional Justice, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Fund, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas.

Mr. Tenny is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and earned his bachelor's degree in history and science from Harvard College.

Yvette J. Alberdingk Thijm

Executive Director
WITNESS
Brooklyn, NY

Yvette Alberdingk Thijm is executive director of WITNESS, a global leader in empowering people to use video for human rights advocacy and activism. She leads the organization in fulfilling its mission of using video to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. Prior to serving as head of the organization starting 2008, Yvette was on the WITNESS board for four years. She has nearly two decades of experience in media, strategic partnerships, and new technologies, which includes serving as executive vice president of content strategy & acquisition at Joost, a global online video platform start-up launched by the founders of Skype. Yvette also spent more than a decade at MTV Networks International focused on its international growth and forays into digital media. She is a member of the board of trustees of the Foundation Center, a leading authority on organized philanthropy, and serves on the board of Access, a global movement for digital freedom. She is also on the advisory boards of Lioness, a social documentary and outreach program for America's first female war veterans, and Uncensored Interview, a digital platform for independent musicians.

Thomas E. Wilcox

President
Baltimore Community Foundation
Baltimore, MD

Thomas E. Wilcox joined the Baltimore Community Foundation (BCF) in September, 2000, continuing his 30-year career in the promotion of diversity and excellence in the nonprofit sector.

Tom Wilcox is currently overseeing the development of Invest in Baltimore, BCF's civic agenda that will encompass and measure coordinated efforts to reduce poverty, stimulate economic growth, and assure a high quality of life in Greater Baltimore. Tom is also overseeing the development of the Middle Grades Partnership, a collaborative of leading private and public schools and universities that offers academically promising Baltimore Middle School youth the opportunity to excel in challenging high schools, flourish in college, and enter the work force prepared for Baltimore's most demanding and rewarding professions.

Since coming to BCF Wilcox has led fundraising efforts that have helped the foundation triple its annual grantmaking, from an average of less than $10 million per year in the 1990s to an average of more than $30 million per year in this decade. These efforts have contributed to Baltimore's renaissance and have brought opportunity to many Baltimoreans.

Wilcox currently serves on the boards of the William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund, the Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Foundation, the Foundation Center, the Baltimore Educational Scholarship Trust, the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, the East Baltimore Development Inc. Educational Initiative, and CFLeads, a coalition of community foundations committed to civic leadership.

Before joining BCF, Wilcox served as headmaster of Concord Academy in Massachusetts for 19 years. He was the founding director of the Association of Boarding Schools and a headmaster, teacher, and administrator in schools in the U.S. and Europe. Wilcox has a B.A. from Colorado College and an Ed.M. from Harvard University, where he divided his studies between the Graduate Schools of Education and Business Administration.

(as of November 2011)