Chris McInerney

President and CEO

Chris joined the Board of Directors of the Foundation in 1999, becoming Executive Director in 2002 and then President and CEO in 2010. Prior to joining the Foundation, Chris had an accomplished career in domestic and international publishing as President, CEO and sole owner of McInerney International, Ltd., an international scouting literary agency in NYC. She currently serves on the Board of the Juilliard School, and on the Advisory Committee for WQXR.

Jennifer Strikowsky

Senior Administrator and Board Secretary

Jennifer joined the Foundation in 2017, after a career in marketing and communications in the arts. She has worked on the agency side for corporate philanthropies and international museum projects, and in-house for cultural organizations such as the New York Public Library and the Frick Art Reference Library.  She headed the public affairs departments at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Montclair Art Museum. Jennifer started out in fine arts, directing galleries in New York and Hong Kong.

Barbara Prawdzik

Assistant

Barbara joined the Foundation in 2006. After emigrating from her native Poland, Barbara interned at Crown Plaza United Nations while learning English, her second language. She later met Dawn Greene, who hired her to run the Foundation office.

Hildy Simmons

Chair

Hildy joined the Foundation Board in 2005, and has been Chair since 2014. She is a former Managing Director and head of the Global Foundations group at JPMorgan, overseeing the grantmaking of more than 40 foundations. Hildy served as the program director of the Norman Foundation, and held a variety of positions in New York City and State government. In addition to her work for the Foundation, she currently advises select clients on philanthropy. She serves on the boards of the Mary J. Hutchins Foundation and the Romanian American Foundation.

Dr. Jeremiah Barondess

Dr. Barondess joined the Board in 2010. He is Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University.  He is President Emeritus of the New York Academy of Medicine and Professor Emeritus of Clinical Medicine, and Professor Clinical Public Health at the Weill-Cornell University Medical College. Dr. Barondess has written extensively on clinical matters in internal medicine, on medical education, clinical ethics, and health disparities in urban populations. He is an emeritus member of the Board of Trustees of the Johns Hopkins University, and chaired the Advisory Council for the School of Medicine from its founding in 1978 until 1992.

Jonathan Fanton

Jonathan joined the Foundation Board in 2020. He is the past president of American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also president of the John D. and Catharine T. MacArthur Foundation, as well as president of The New School for Social Research. He has served as board chair for several organizations, including Human Rights Watch, the Security Council Report, and the New York State Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities. He currently serves on the boards of Scholars At Risk, the Asian Cultural Council, the Benjamin Franklin House, the World Refugee Council and the advisory board of the Newman’s Own Foundation.

Karen Brooks Hopkins

Karen joined the Foundation’s Board in 2016. She is the president emerita of Brooklyn Academy of Music, having worked there from 1979 to 2015, serving the last 16 years as its President. Hopkins was chair of the Cultural Institutions Group, a member of the Mayor’s Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission, and a participant on Mayor de Blasio’s transition committee. Karen served as the Brooklyn Regent for the New York State Education Department from 2005-2010, and was the Inaugural Senior Fellow in Residence at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.  She currently serves on the boards of the Trust for Governors Island and Alexander Onassis Foundation, where she is Senior Advisor.

Brad Karp

Brad joined the Foundation in 2020. He is currently the Chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, a position he has held since 2008. Brad has received more than a dozen recognitions for his pro bono and charitable work. He is chair of the non-profit Legal Action Center, and also serves as a trustee at Mount Sinai Hospital. He is on the Executive Committees of the Partnership for New York City and the New York City Bar Association. Brad also serves on the Harvard Law School Leadership Council, the American Friends of Hebrew University, as well as other non-profit boards.

Robert Weissenstein

CFO

Robert began his involvement with the Foundation in 2012 as an advisor, was a founding member of the Finance Committee in 2013 and became Chief Financial Officer overseeing investments and general finances in 2015. He has extensive experience in the financial industry starting as an operations management trainee at Merrill Lynch, then in roles including money market trader, research analyst and portfolio manager. He became Head of JPMorgan Private Bank Investment Management after its merger with Chase and prior to joining the Foundation was Chief Investment Officer for Credit Suisse Private Banking. He appeared regularly on CNBC and Bloomberg as well as in various publications discussing investment strategy. Robert holds a BA in Government from Cornell University.

Drummond Pike

Drummond joined the Foundation’s Financial Advisory Committee in 2016. He founded Tides Foundation in 1976, the first national sponsor of Donor Advised Funds. He continued developing progressive, social justice focused infrastructure including Tides Center, the Tides Advocacy Fund, Groundspring.org, Tides Inc., Tides Shared Spaces and Tides Network. He served as Chief Executive of all until November, 2010, and retired in March of 2011. He now consults with several principals and is an active investor in social impact companies. He has worked with Equilibrium Capital and Ultra Capital on sustainable real asset private equity strategies. Drummond currently serves on the Boards of Working Assets (Credo Mobile), Environmental Working Group, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Institute for New Economic Thinking.

Jessie Zhu

Jessie joined the Foundation’s Financial Advisory Committee in 2018. She is currently the Regional Head of Investment Products at HSBC Private Bank, Americas. She’s held senior positions at BNP Paribas, Barclays, as well as at Credit Suisse. Born in China, Jessie has an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MA from Harvard University.