President

Our roots trace back to DeWitt and Lila Acheson Wallace, the founders of Reader's Digest, one of the most widely circulated magazines in the world. During their lifetimes, the Wallaces’ were known for the breadth of their philanthropic interests and commitment to improving society across many sectors. The Wallace Foundation was created in 2003, two decades after their deaths, through the merger of two of the Wallaces’ legacy charitable organizations:

• The DeWitt Wallace Reader's Digest Fund which focused primarily on education and youth development, including supporting libraries, scholarship programs, and various education and enrichment initiatives, and
• The Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund which primarily focused on cultural and community projects, including significant contributions to the arts, parks, and other community-based projects.

The creation of a single private foundation, The Wallace Foundation, marked a strategic shift to focus more closely on impact and social improvement.

Our work is centered on three focus areas that have remained consistent for over 20 years: the arts, education leadership, and youth development. We fund the development of long-term, inquiry-led approaches to creating a more equitable society by working in partnership with grantees and others, locally and across the fields we serve, to explore and document innovative approaches to important problems of practice. We then take the lessons and evidence from this work and disseminate them to contribute to public policy discussions and support the spread of evidence-based improvements in practice nationwide.

The next President will help drive a vision for the Foundation’s future, capitalizing on its strengths and expanding opportunities where the Foundation can carry out initiatives nationally to promote advances in practice and contribute to public policy discussion in the arts, education, and youth development.

Reporting to the Foundation’s Board of Directors, the incoming President will inherit a robust organization characterized by a collaborative culture, a strong team, and a focused agenda. We are looking for a results-

driven, values-oriented leader who will embrace and enhance our approach to identifying and addressing knowledge gaps to propel the field forward.

The new President will guide a committed, mission-driven staff with authenticity, humility, respect, and intellectual curiosity. Committed to research and evidence-based insights, the President will oversee resource allocation, explore new impact opportunities within key focus areas, and ensure the Foundation's long-term financial sustainability and operational effectiveness. They will also lead the Foundation’s efforts to catalyze improvements in public policy in full compliance with our policy engagement principles while amplifying the Foundation’s voice, impact, and influence.

• Champion the Foundation’s mission to help all communities build a more vibrant and just future by fostering advances in the arts, education leadership, and youth development.
• Guide an inquiry and evidence-based approach that closely partners with grantees to support their initiatives aimed at generating local improvements and generalizable insights while widely disseminating insights to enhance public policy discussion and practice across the nation.
• Within the Foundation's areas of focus, continue to pursue the development of new questions and insights, foster broader and deeper partnerships, and implement innovative grantmaking strategies to push current thinking and enhance overall impact.
• Ensure a sustained cross-functional and collaborative approach to research and grant-making.
• Attract and retain top talent while fostering a strong, resilient culture of learning and mutual respect.
• Cultivate an environment that empowers and enables individuals to excel in their work, promoting collaboration, accountability, and equity throughout the organization.
• Maintain a strong and successful relationship with the Wallace Foundation Board of Directors.
• Elevate the Wallace Foundation’s influence and thought leadership while embodying humility and serving as a nonpartisan "honest broker" of valuable lessons and evidence.
• Work effectively with Wallace’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), investment team, and financial staff to administer the Foundation’s resources prudently and maintain its long-term capacity to support transformative work.

IDEAL EXPERIENCE

• Clearly articulates a strategic framework for the work of the Foundation and enables others to understand and apply it.
• Demonstrated commitment to the Wallace Foundation’s mission, along with an understanding of and appreciation for the unique role and responsibilities of a philanthropic organization dedicated to supporting grantees and sharing insights from their work to advance their sectors.
• A seasoned, results-oriented leader with senior-level experience aligning priorities across multiple functional and programmatic areas within complex, multi-sector organizations.
• Proven experience leading and managing senior leadership teams, with a track record of serving as a strategic thought partner while fostering a collaborative environment that empowers and unlocks the full potential of the leadership team.
• Demonstrated experience building a collaborative, relational work culture
• Authentic commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, with evidenced success in supporting action and progress both within an organization and in the broader world.
• Consistent success in recruiting, retaining, and developing talent.
• Ability to represent an organization and its priorities to a wide range of audiences.
• Experience leveraging metrics, data, evidence, and assessment to monitor progress and identify emerging patterns to shape future strategy and help demonstrate impact.
• Demonstrated ability to work constructively and collaboratively with a board or other type of governing body.

CRITICAL LEADERSHIP CAPABILITIES

Strategic Leadership

• Works with the Board of Directors to balance short-term objectives with long-term vision to drive and monitor the organization’s strategic direction.
• Anticipates and remains aware of the challenges and opportunities facing the organization, its grantees, and the broader philanthropic sector.
• Positions the Foundation to be intellectually and programmatically agile, leveraging insights from results to inform future directions and strategies.
• Demonstrates intellectual dexterity and curiosity; strong capability for critical and creative thinking and problem solving.
• Models and drives excellence and innovation in service of the Foundation’s mission while ensuring strategic priorities align with resources for maximum impact.

Organizational Capacity Building

• Experience in leadership roles that require operational excellence, relationship-building, and partnership management with a focus on results.
• Fosters a continuous learning culture, encouraging open communication and actively supporting individual development through effective feedback.
• Creates an inclusive workplace environment that attracts, retains, and develops talent for the organization. Welcomes diverse perspectives and encourages critical and constructive input.
• Builds and sustains a culture of collaboration, collegiality, respect, and trust.
• Holds the organization accountable for its commitments; provides clarity, fairness, and constructive feedback; and motivates team members to achieve their goals.
• Demonstrated commitment to the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
• Builds and ensures operational systems and procedures that drive efficiency, transparency, and philanthropic best-practice, with clearly articulated expectations and measurable goals.
• Collaborating and Influencing
• Operates as an enthusiastic connector and thought partner who leverages relationships, common values, and aligned aspirations to build coordination and extend impact within priority areas of focus.
• Builds partnerships, coalitions and engages in meaningful dialogue with a wide range of funders, grantees, and thought leaders.
• Engages in meaningful dialogue regarding the use of evidence-based insights from the Foundation’s work to contribute to public policy discussions.
• Is present in, and learns from, the communities served through the Foundation’s engagement and grantmaking.
• Communicates effectively and elevates the influence of the evidence base created by the work the Foundation funds.

OTHER PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

• Humility and appreciation for, and encouragement of, diversity of thought and perspectives.
• Intellectually curious with a growth mindset.
• Deeply relational and humanistic, modeling traits essential for the collaborative way of working across teams
• Self-aware with the ability to be self-reflective.

The estimated annual base salary range for this position is $813,000 to $904,000, but the final base salary will be dependent on the individual’s skills, experience, abilities, and qualifications. In addition to the annual salary, the Wallace Foundation offers a strong benefits package.

The Wallace Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to maintaining a diverse workplace where differing perspectives are a source of strength.