Press Releases

Ford Foundation President Announces Plans to Retire in '08

NEW YORK, 29 September 2006 — Susan V. Berresford, President of the Ford Foundation, announced today that she will retire at age 65, in January 2008 after 38 years of service to the foundation, including 12 years as president.

Berresford made the announcement to Ford Foundation staff this morning, at the conclusion of a regularly scheduled meeting of the foundation's Board of Trustees. The Chair of the Board will chair the search committee and will announce details of the search process following the next regularly scheduled Board meeting in January 2007.

"Susan is an outstanding leader and we have been extraordinarily fortunate to benefit from her vision for so many years," said Board Chair Kathryn S. Fuller. "Over the course of an incredible career Susan has come to embody the foundation's values and mission. She has built an organization of dedicated professionals who focus on supporting pioneering work by grantees around the world. As usual, she has set an aggressive agenda for the coming year, but the impact of her leadership will extend for many years beyond that."

Berresford has held the post of President since 1996, when she succeeded Franklin Thomas. She is the foundation's eighth president. She joined the staff in 1970 and held a variety of posts including Vice President for Programs and Chief Operating Officer.

"I am very proud of the work we have done and what we are poised to do before I retire," Berresford told foundation staff this morning. "But I know it is time for a new stage in my life, one that includes more time for my family. I am enormously pleased that the Foundation is strong and will meet the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead."

"The Ford Foundation will always be committed to people struggling for equity, fairness and opportunity," she said, commenting on the core values that have guided the foundation's work for more than fifty years. "We are dedicated to the discovery of knowledge, the expression of ideas, and to principles of democratic decision-making and accountability. This is at the heart of our work and our charter."

During Berresford's tenure as president, the Ford Foundation expanded its work on poverty reduction, human rights, peace building and governance reform, education and the arts.

Among the initiatives Berresford oversaw: a major new graduate fellowship program for thousands of marginalized men and women around the world; a national initiative to support individual artists; and major investments in homeownership and matched savings for tens of thousands of low-income Americans.

Under her leadership the Ford Foundation also was a prime funder of the newly created International Center for Transitional Justice, which helps societies emerging from conflict create processes that promote justice and secure sustainable peace; coalitions to promote affirmative action; and global work on HIV/AIDS. She has also supported the creation and capitalization of nearly two dozen new foundations around the world, including the African-led and governed TrustAfrica.

During her presidency, the foundation has also helped build a web-based source of good practice for grant-makers, and endowed organizations addressing discrimination against women and minorities.

Berresford's presidency coincided with a number of traumatic world events. "I am proud," Berresford said, "that, in difficult times, we quickly provided support to people in distress. We helped establish the 9/11 Fund, and made grants to protect vulnerable groups in 9/11's aftermath. I think with pride of Ford's immediate and substantial response to natural disasters - Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami - and our continuing efforts to address suffering caused by disasters."

In concluding her remarks to staff, Berresford said: "Our Foundation, networked around the world and driven by ambitions for fairness, democratic practice and excellence, will be important for decades to come. Our work reflects the reality of today's world: neither problems nor promising ideas respect borders."

Presidential Search

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The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has worked with courageous people 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. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.