New Year Brings Leadership Changes at Two Large Foundations
January 8, 2004 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Key leadership changes are under way at two of the nation’s wealthiest foundations:
- The David and Lucile Packard Foundation has tapped one of its senior officials, Carol S. Larson, to take over as its new chief executive.
- Gordon Conway, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, in New York, has announced that he plans to retire at the end of 2004.
Ms. Larson, who has worked at Packard for 14 years, will replace Richard T. Schlosberg III, who announced his retirement in June. While the foundation conducted an international search for his successor, the organization’s trustees chose Ms. Larson based on her “vision and integrity,” said Susan Packard Orr, chairwoman of the fund.
Rockefeller Chief
Mr. Conway has led Rockefeller, whose assets total $2.68-billion, for the last seven years. Under Mr. Conway’s leadership, the foundation has increased the amount of grant money it has channeled to poor people worldwide. Rockefeller has either started new programs geared to helping poor people — such as one designed to help the children of African mothers with AIDS receive antiretroviral drugs — or increased its financial commitment to programs that aid the redevelopment of inner cities and others that help African farmers use new technology.
“During my time here, we’ve strengthened our central focus of improving the lives of poor and excluded people,” Mr. Conway said. Upon his retirement, Mr. Conway will return with his family to London, his hometown. “I have four grandchildren, two of whom I haven’t seen in years,” he said. “I feel like I’m leaving the foundation in good shape. You have to go sometime. Now is as good a time as any.”
An ecologist, Mr. Conway has long been a prominent voice on international food issues. He spent 30 years working to develop ecologically sensitive methods of farming in Borneo, India, and Thailand. Mr. Conway’s promotion of bioengineered foods in food-poor regions has been a source of controversy for groups that oppose them.
James F. Orr III, chairman of the Rockefeller board, will lead a search for Mr. Conway’s successor, beginning in early 2004.
