Ford Foundation President Darren Walker Announces Departure in 2025

Board of Trustees to Search for New President

NEW YORK, July 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Francisco Cigarroa, chair of the Board of Trustees of the Ford Foundation, announced that president Darren Walker has shared his plans to step down from the foundation by the end of 2025. 

The Ford Foundation Board of Trustees will oversee the presidential leadership transition process. A search committee composed of trustees Francisco Cigarroa, Ursula Burns, Laurene Powell Jobs, Tom Kempner, Lourdes Lopez, Paula Moreno, and Ai-jen Poo will assist the board with the search process.

“Every day, Darren brings to the role intelligence and curiosity, strategic vision, and an infectious, positive spirit and energy that will leave an indelible mark on the foundation. He has guided Ford through some of the most challenging moments of our time with grace, kindness, and empathy, and his tenure will be remembered as one of the most consequential periods in the institution’s nearly 90-year history,” said Ford Foundation board chair Francisco Cigarroa. “Identifying a successor who can build on Darren’s legacy will be no small task, but it’s the most important responsibility of a governing board. We are confident that we will find the right leader who will work with our talented team as we look to this next chapter in our mission to fight inequality and advance social justice. The board is also confident that Darren will continue to work with vibrant energy until his last second as president of the Ford Foundation.”

“I am incredibly humbled and grateful to have had the opportunity and privilege to serve the Ford Foundation over these past 11 years,” said Ford Foundation president Darren Walker. “The work of the Ford Foundation is the work of generations, and I’m proud to have played a part in leading this storied institution. The efforts to address the societal drivers of inequality with grantees and partners would not have been possible without the tenacity of our incredible program and operations colleagues. I remain steadfast in my belief that the Ford Foundation is in the business of hope and in its future in pursuing a more just and equitable world.”

For over a decade, Walker oversaw some of the foundation’s most influential work, from the evolution of its mission to focus squarely on inequality and social justice to changing how Ford and many of its peer foundations conduct funding. Walker’s leadership style earned him a reputation as a visionary and pragmatic leader, where he helped reshape philanthropic sector practices, built bridges across multiple sectors, innovated new programs, and contributed to how leaders think about major societal issues around the globe. 

He has been recognized around the world for his stellar achievements, garnering 16 honorary degrees and university awards and being awarded numerous accolades and honors, including being listed among TIME‘s “100 Most Influential People” in 2016 and Rolling Stone‘s “25 People Shaping the Future” in 2017, WSJ Philanthropy Innovator of the Year in 2020, and Inside Philanthropy’s Philanthropy Leader of the Year in 2023. In 2022, he was awarded France’s highest cultural honor, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, for leadership in the arts. In 2023, he was also appointed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to the Order of the British Empire for services to UK/US relations. 

Walker conceived and led Ford’s grantmaking in revolutionary ways. Under his leadership, Ford established new programs like Tech and Society to build out the field of public interest technology and Ford’s first-ever program for disability rights. He spearheaded the strategy to provide sustained, multi-year grants and organizational support for grantees, influencing many peer foundations to adopt funding approaches through efforts like Ford’s $1 billion BUILD initiative and activated Ford’s endowment to invest for impact with its $1 billion Mission Investments program. 

He also engaged leaders across the sector to create the President’s Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy, the President’s Council on Impact Investing, the Arts Foundations Presidents Group, and the Indigenous People’s Land Tenure Fund, among others.

In 2014, he headed the philanthropy committee that helped resolve Detroit’s historic bankruptcy through Detroit’s Grand Bargain, a landmark deal that saved the Detroit Institute of Arts and ensured retired municipal employees would receive their pensions. He was also instrumental in bringing the Ford family back into the foundation with the election of Henry Ford III to the Board of Trustees, the first family member to serve since 1976.

Walker worked in lockstep with global leaders to help launch initiatives throughout the world, such as the Constitutionalism Fund in South Africa to back local organizations advocating for constitutionalism and rule of law in the country, the Black Feminist Fund, which helps to ensure Black femme-led movements have the resources they need to advance change, and the Nusantara Fund, an effort to support Indigenous and local communities in Indonesia by improving the efficiency with which climate funds are allocated.

In an urgent response to COVID-19 and concurrent crises, Walker led the effort to issue a first-ever $1 billion social bond by a foundation to bolster and strengthen nonprofit organizations. He conceived of and organized a consortium of foundations to launch America’s Cultural Treasures, a $300 million fund to help sustain cultural institutions during the pandemic. 

Walker assumed his leadership role after overseeing grantmaking across a range of programs as vice president. Before joining Ford, Darren was vice president at the Rockefeller Foundation, overseeing global and domestic programs, including the Rebuild New Orleans initiative after Hurricane Katrina. In the 1990s, as chief operating officer of the Abyssinian Development Corporation—Harlem’s largest community development organization—he led a comprehensive revitalization strategy, including building more than 1,000 affordable housing units and the first major commercial development in Harlem since the 1960s.

For more information on the executive search process, visit fordfoundation.org.

ABOUT THE FORD FOUNDATION

The Ford Foundation is an independent organization working to address inequality and build a future grounded in justice. For more than 85 years, it has supported visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Today, with an endowment of $16 billion, the foundation has headquarters in New York and 10 regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

SOURCE Ford Foundation