CEP is pleased to announce that Chris DeVita, President of The Wallace Foundation, will be joining our Board of Directors this May. The press release is below.
April 19, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
M. Christine DeVita, President of The Wallace Foundation, Joins the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s Board of Directors
Cambridge, MA— M. Christine DeVita, president of The Wallace Foundation, has been elected to a three-year term on CEP’s Board of Directors beginning May 2011.
An attorney who joined The Wallace Foundation in 1987 and became its president in 1989, DeVita has overseen the foundation’s transformation from a collection of small family funds into one of the country’s largest foundations with assets of more than $1 billion.
During her tenure, DeVita has pushed the foundation to maximize its impact. She led its transition from project-focused grantmaking to targeted strategies that combine program, communication, and evaluation expertise. DeVita has also emphasized building and broadly sharing the foundation’s knowledge. A well-respected foundation leader, DeVita is committed to using data to make better decisions in grantmaking.
Wallace’s approach to philanthropy has been profiled in the book Creative Philanthropy by Helmut Anheier and Diana Leat (Routledge, 2006), and in two CEP research publications, Aiming for Excellence at The Wallace Foundation (2009), and More than Money: Making a Difference with Assistance Beyond the Grant (2008).
“We are thrilled that Chris DeVita is joining our board,” said CEP President Phil Buchanan. “Under Chris’ leadership, The Wallace Foundation has become a model for using data to assess and improve its performance.”
DeVita, who retires from The Wallace Foundation in June, joins a Board of Directors whose other members include Board Chair Stephen Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Michael Bailin, former president and CEO of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation; Crystal Hayling, former president and CEO of the Blue Shield of California Foundation; Christine James-Brown, president and CEO of the Child Welfare League of America; James Knickman, president and CEO of the New York State Health Foundation; Patricia Kozu, managing director of finance and administration at the National Employment Law Project; Kathryn Merchant, president and CEO of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation; and Nadya Shmavonian, president of Public/Private Ventures.
Alyse d’Amico is vice president—programming, communications, and development at the Center for Effective Philanthropy.
