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July 18, 2007 – Oakland, CA – Nicole Taylor, Managing Director of the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University, has been named the East Bay Community Foundation’s new President and Chief Executive Officer following a nationwide search.
Taylor, a veteran executive with 14 years of experience in the Bay Area non-profit community, will be the first African-American to lead the Foundation in its 79-year history.
“I am thrilled to be returning to the East Bay, a region I care passionately about,” said Taylor. “I look forward to leading the Foundation into a new era of leading change for the people of Alameda and Contra Costa counties.”
Taylor was selected for her dedication to powerful, community-based philanthropy and for her familiarity with the most important problems and issues facing the East Bay, according to Michael Dalby, Chair of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. |
“Nicole Taylor is the leader who will bring the East Bay Community Foundation to a new level of engagement and visibility, ensuring that we become one of the region’s most important agents of change,” said Dalby. “It was with great excitement and deep enthusiasm that the Board of Directors unanimously selected Nicole after an extensive search.”
“Nicole has it all. Her knowledge of the challenges facing the East Bay; her proven skills as a communicator and fundraiser; her connections in the local, state and national worlds of philanthropy; and her ability to forge important solutions with public-policy makers at every level make her the ideal person for the job,” said Dalby, a management consultant and former McKesson Corporation senior executive.
Earlier in her career, Taylor served as an executive at the East Bay Community Foundation itself for nine years.
The Foundation manages about $285 million in charitable funds for individuals, families, corporations and other organizations, investing the funds, and advising and assisting fund holders with charitable giving. It also makes grants from its own endowment and engages in community leadership initiatives that are presently focused on education and on planning for sustainable communities. Total giving from the Foundation and its fund holders in its just-completed fiscal year topped $34 million, up from $27 million in 2005-06.
As chief executive of the Foundation, Taylor succeeds Michael Howe, who led the Foundation to consistent financial growth and growing engagements in the community during his 13-year tenure. He left the Foundation in November of 2006 to become Chair of the National Task Force on Community Leadership at the John W. Gardner Center at Stanford.
“I cannot think of a person more qualified or committed to the Foundation than Nicole Taylor,” said Howe. “Over the 16 years I have known and worked with Nicole I recognized we were lucky to have someone with her high moral values, extraordinary intellect, motivation and ebullient personality. During the years Nicole worked at the Foundation, she worked in and at virtually every level. I know that Nicole, working in partnership with the Board, donors, community, and staff will take the East Bay Community Foundation forward.”
As Managing Director of the Haas Center, Taylor has been responsible for the operations and programs of one of the West Coast’s premier institutions that develop leaders capable of making social change.
Before coming to Stanford, she was Chief Executive Officer at College Track for three years, a nonprofit organization that consistently transforms students with desire but lacking resources into academic successes in high school and college. While there, she opened a new program in Oakland and raised $4 million for College Track.
Taylor has a bachelor’s degree in human biology and a master’s degree in education, both from Stanford. A former school teacher grounded in practical, classroom experience, she also served as Executive Director of Oakland Fund for Children and Youth, an important city agency responsible for developing a network of integrated services for young people.
She currently serves on the board of the California Governor and First Lady’s Conference on Women, and has served previously on boards of the Community Network for Youth Development, Bay Area Blacks in Philanthropy, the National Association of Black Foundation Executives, and the Oakland Museum, among other activities.
Taylor is scheduled to assume her new role on September 4, 2007. She and her family will be moving back to the East Bay from Stanford later this month.
Veteran Foundation Director Karen Stevenson, who has served as interim President of the Foundation since Howe’s departure last fall, said she is “deeply gratified to welcome Nicole,” adding she will be available to assist Taylor as needed to ensure a smooth transition.
“During the past nine months, the entire staff at the Foundation has been working with the Board to prepare for the arrival of our new chief executive by exploring strategic options. Now that Nicole is stepping in, we’re ready to move forward as swiftly as possible,” said Stevenson, a former corporate chief legal officer who will rejoin the Foundation Board in September.
The Foundation was assisted in its search by the 360 Group (www.360searchgroup.com) of San Francisco |
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