CFLeads announces new Executive Director
Seasoned nonprofit leader Deborah A. Ellwood will become executive director of CFLeads on December 1, reports Tom Wilcox, Baltimore Community Foundation CEO and chair of the CFLeads board. “The board of CFLeads is thrilled by Deborah’s appointment. Our organization, which has emanated from the Coalition of Community Foundations for Youth, has had the privilege of co-sponsoring with the Community Foundations Leadership Team the creation of visionary “frameworks” for Community Leadership and the development of transformative Community Leadership Networks. Ms. Ellwood’s appointment promises us the opportunity to take our work to the next level.”
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| Deborah Ellwood |
CFLeads works to advance community foundations as powerful agents for community change and serves as the Council on Foundations' implementation partner for community leadership for community foundations. This work is made possible by generous support from the Community Foundations Leadership Team as well as national, regional and community foundations.
An award-winning graduate of Bowdoin College and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Deborah Ellwood brings a broad background as an advocate, policy analyst, grantmaker, fundraiser and community builder. She served as both a board and staff leader during 10 years with Rochester Area Community Foundation (NY), moving its grantmaking from responsive to highly focused and launching successful children’s advocacy and after-school initiatives. She was co-chair of the public policy subcommittee of the Council on Foundations' ProNet affinity group, and was at the forefront of community foundation leadership activities while on the board and staff of the Rochester Area Community Foundation.
Deborah has advocated for children, low-income families and clean indoor air at Children Now in California, the Fiscal Policy Institute in New York and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, respectively. She previously served as director of development at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, which has taken an activist role in redeveloping surrounding city blocks.
Deborah succeeds Cindy Sesler Ballard, founding executive director of what was previously known as the Coalition of Community Foundations for Youth (CCFY). Winsome Hawkins, former VP for Community Programs and Initiatives at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, as well as a former CCFY board member and Associate Director, has served as CFLeads’ interim executive director since March 2009.
Deborah can be reached at dellwood@cfleads.org after December 1