CIVIC VENTURES BOARD MEMBERS

Michael A. Bailin (Vice Chair), President (retired), The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation

Laura L. Carstensen, Director, Stanford Center on Longevity

Ron D. Cordes, Co-chairman, Genworth Financial Wealth Management

Lewis M. Feldstein (Treasurer), President, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation

Ellen Goodman, writer, speaker and commentator

Paul H. Irving, COO, Milken Institute

Sherry Lansing (Secretary), Founder, The Sherry Lansing Foundation

Suzanne Braun Levine, writer, editor and authority on women and family issues

Webb McKinney, consultant

Judy Jolley Mohraz, President and CEO, Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust

Joseph Plummer, Professor, Columbia Business School, and former Executive Vice President, McCann Worldgroup

Beverly Ryder, education reformer

Lester Strong, Vice President and CEO, AARP Experience Corps

Ruth A. Wooden (Chair), former President and CEO, Public Agenda

Board Members

Michael A. Bailin (Vice Chair) served as President and CEO of The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation from 1996 to 2005. For the prior 17 years, he was President and CEO of Public/Private Ventures (P/PV), a nationally recognized nonprofit organization dedicated to improving opportunities for young people in poor communities. Prior to launching P/PV in 1977, Bailin worked as a consultant to the Ford Foundation, and before that he served as the Deputy Director and counsel to the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City. Bailin has also practiced law and taught at both Dartmouth and Franconia colleges in New Hampshire. Over the years he has helped to build, has managed or has served as a board member or adviser to numerous nonprofit organizations. Currently Bailin serves on the boards of The Center for Effective Philanthropy (Executive Committee), the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and the William Penn Foundation (Executive Committee). He also serves on the President’s Leadership Advisory Council of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and on the Advisory Council of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship. Since leaving The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, Bailin consults to organizations and on projects of special interest to him. He spent the spring semester of 2006 as a Visiting Professor of the Practice of Foundation Strategy at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University.

Laura L. Carstensen is founding Director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, which explores innovative ways to solve the problems of people over 50 and improve the well-being of people of all ages. She is Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. Professor in Public Policy and professor of psychology at Stanford. She is best known for socioemotional selectivity theory, a life-span theory of motivation. Carstensen’s research has been supported by the National Institute on Aging for more than 20 years. With her students and colleagues, she has published well over 125 articles on life-span development and, in 2009, she authored A Long Bright Future: An Action Plan for a Lifetime of Happiness, Health, and Financial Security. Carstensen’s most current research focuses on ways in which motivational changes influence cognitive processing. Her professional fellowships include the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association and The Gerontological Society of America. Carstensen serves on the Board of Science Advisors to the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany and has chaired two studies for the National Academy of Sciences, resulting in The Aging Mind and When I’m 64. She is a member of The MacArthur Foundation Research Network on an Aging Society. Carstensen has won numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Distinguished Career Award from The Gerontological Society of America. She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from West Virginia University.

Ron D. Cordes has enjoyed a 30-plus year career in the investment industry, having co-founded and then sold AssetMark Investment Services to Genworth Financial in 2006. He is currently Co-chairman of Genworth Financial Wealth Management, which is responsible for over $24 billion of assets under management for individual and institutional clients. Cordes is also co-founder of the Cordes Foundation, which has a global mission of driving market-based capital to address the world’s most important problems. Cordes speaks extensively on impact investing and achieving meaning and purpose in an encore career, and has been profiled in multiple publications including Fast Company, Forbes, Financial Advisor, Financial Planning and Private Wealth Management. Cordes chairs the Executive Committee for ImpactAssets, a nonprofit financial services company launched in 2010, and is also co-chair of the Opportunity Collaboration, a global poverty business retreat. In addition, he is a regent of the University of the Pacific, and chairs the Board of Stakeholders for the university’s Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship. Cordes also serves on the Advisory Committee for the Clinton Global Initiative, and as a board member of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, Fair Trade USA and MicroVest Holdings.

Lewis M. Feldstein (Treasurer) is President of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the principal sourceof venture capital for New Hampshire’s nonprofit community. An expert on civic engagement, Feldstein co-chaired Harvard University’s three-year executive seminar on civic engagement in America with Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone. He and Putnam co-authored Better Together: Restoring the American Community in 2003. In recent years, Feldstein was selected as one of the 100 People Who Shaped New Hampshire in the 20th Century, published by the Concord Monitor; one of The 2008 NonProfit Times Power & Influence Top 50 members of
the U.S. nonprofit world; and one of the 10 most influential people in New Hampshire
by Business NH Magazine. Feldstein started his career working with the
civil rights movement in Mississippi. He served in senior staff positions to
New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay and worked as provost of the Antioch New
England Graduate School (now known as Antioch University New England), among
many other jobs. Feldstein serves on several boards, including the board of directors
of Independent Sector. Feldstein is a graduate of Brown University and holds
a master’s degree in law and diplomacy from Tufts University. He has received
seven honorary doctorates.

Ellen Goodman, who was a longtime syndicated columnist for The Boston Globe and the Washington Post Writers Group, has spent most of her life chronicling social change and its impact on American life. The Pulitzer Prize-winner continues that tradition from her observation post now as a writer, speaker and commentator. Goodman began her career as a researcher for Newsweek magazine in the days when only men wrote for the newsweekly. She landed a job as a reporter for the Detroit Free Press in 1965 and, in 1967, for The Boston Globe, where she began writing her column in 1974. The Washington Post Writers Group syndicated her column from 1976 to 2010. A 1963 cum laude graduate of Radcliffe College, Goodman served as a Nieman Fellow from 1973-1974 at Harvard University, where she studied the dynamics of social change. In 2007, she was a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where she studied gender and the news. As the first Lorry I. Lokey Visiting Professor in Professional Journalism, she taught at Stanford University in 1996. Goodman’s first book, 1979’s Turning Points, detailed the effect of the changing roles of women on the family. Six collections of her columns also have been published. She is co-author with Patricia O’Brien of I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women’s Lives, published in 2000. Goodman won the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary in 1980. She has won many other awards, including the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award.

Paul H. Irving is the Senior Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Milken Institute. He was previously an advanced leadership fellow at Harvard University and Chairman, Chief Executive and managing partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, a prominent law and consulting firm with offices in California, New York and Washington, D.C. Irving served in numerous leadership roles at Manatt, including Chairman of the financial services group and member of the board. He was recognized for many years by The Best Lawyers in America; was named a California Super Lawyer by Los Angeles magazine; was named Manager of the Year and one of the Legal Stars in California by the Daily Journal; and was rated AV for professional excellence by Martindale-Hubbell. A frequent speaker on leadership and strategy, Irving serves on the board, audit committee and compensation committee of East West Bancorp Inc.; the board, executive committee and audit committee of Operation Hope; the advisory board of TrueSpark; and the Social Investment Forum.

Sherry Lansing (Secretary) is the founder and current Chair of The Sherry Lansing Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on cancer research, health and education. Lansing was the Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Group of Paramount Pictures from 1992 to 2005, where she oversaw the release of more than 200 films, including Academy Award-winners Forrest Gump (1994), Braveheart (1995) and Titanic (1997). A pioneering studio executive, Lansing is the first woman in the film industry to oversee all aspects of a studio’s motion picture production. Currently, Lansing serves on the Executive Committee of the board of directors of Friends of Cancer Research and as a Trustee of the American Association for Cancer Research. She also lends her energy and talents to such organizations as Stand Up To Cancer, which she co-founded to raise funds for collaborative cancer research; Stop Cancer, a nonprofit philanthropic group she founded in partnership with Dr. Armand Hammer; the American Red Cross Board of Governors; and the board of trustees for The Carter Center. Lansing is also founder of the EnCorps Teachers Program, a public/private partnership which retrains retiring technology sector professionals to serve as California middle and high school science and math teachers. Additionally, Lansing is a Regent of the University of California, serving as Chair of the Health Services Committee. In December 2004, she was appointed to the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state agency charged with disbursing $3 billion in funding for embryonic stem cell research. Lansing graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in 1966.

Suzanne Braun Levine is a nationally recognized authority on women, family issues and media. She was the first editor of Ms. magazine (1972 - 1988) and the first woman editor of the prestigious Columbia Journalism Review. She produced the Peabody Award-winning HBO documentary She’s Nobody’s Baby: American Women in the Twentieth Century. In 2004, she was honored as a Ms. Woman of the Year. Her new book How We Love Now: Sex and the New Intimacy in Second Adulthood is the “third chapter” in her ongoing conversation with women in second adulthood, the stage she celebrated in two popular books: 50 Is the New Fifty: 10 Life Lessons for Women in Second Adulthood and Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood. Levine’s previous books include Father Courage: What Happens When Men Put Family First, and in 2007 she co-authored a widely acclaimed oral history about New York Rep. Bella Abzug. She is on the board of the Ms. Foundation for Education and Communication. She is an adviser to women’s organizations on midlife transitions, the Women’s Media Center and The OpEd Project. Levine graduated from Harvard with honors and has taught journalism at several universities.

Webb McKinney is currently a management consultant with a primary focus on merger integration. He also serves on the boards of four nonprofit organizations, besides Civic Ventures: Resource Area for teaching, the American Leadership Forum - Silicon Valley and ALearn. McKinney also serves on the board of SMART Modular Technologies. Prior to retiring from the Hewlett Packard Company after 34 years in November 2003, McKinney was the Executive Vice President leading HP's ongoing merger integration and global citizenship efforts, as well as HP's organizational effectiveness and governance initiatives. Previously, McKinney co-led HP's postmerger integration team. His responsibilities included planning and leading the integration of HP and Compaq's systems, processes and people. Before the merger, McKinney served as President for the Business Customer Organization at HP, with responsibility for worldwide sales of HP products and services and worldwide marketing and delivery of HP products to large companies and small- and medium-sized businesses. McKinney was born in Upland, Calif. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California.

Judy Jolley Mohraz joined the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust as its first president and CEO in September 2000. Prior to joining the trust, she was President of Goucher College in Baltimore. She received her bachelor’s and master's degrees in history from Baylor University and her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mohraz serves on the Council on Foundation's board of directors, the advisory board of the Morrison Institute at Arizona State University, the board of Greater Phoenix Leadership and the advisory board of the William Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University. She previously chaired the Council on Foundation's Committee on Public Policy and served as President of the Arizona Grantmakers Forum.

Joseph Plummer is an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School and Senior Associate at Olson Zaltman Associates. He is co-author of The OnLine Advertising Playbook, focusing on the emergence of the Internet as a marketing platform. Prior to teaching at Columbia, Plummer was Executive Vice President at McCann Worldgroup, Vice Chairman at D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB & B), Executive Vice President at Young & Rubicam and Senior Vice President at Leo Burnett. He was also a managing director at Paine Webber/Y&R Ventures and Chief Research Officer at the Advertising Research Foundation. Plummer is a board member of Media Advisory Partners LLC, Zogby International, Voxpop Investing, AdSafe, Innerscope Research Inc. and C3 Research. Previously he was a board director of Sunstus, Audits & Surveys, McCann Worldgroup, DMB & B, and Young & Rubicam. He was a member of the Board of Trustees at his alma mater, Westminster College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree, and on the Presidents Council at The Ohio State University, where he received his master’s and doctorate degrees. In addition to The OnLine Advertising Playbook, Plummer has published more than 25 articles in journals, written more than 20 chapters for books and has been the editor of The Journal of Advertising Research. He was selected as Distinguished Marketing Practitioner by the Association of Marketing Science in 2007. In 2012 Plummer received the distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the Advertising Research Foundation.

Beverly Ryder is an accomplished executive with 30 years of corporate experience in the banking and energy industries. Since leaving the private sector in 2007, she has been actively engaged in improving and reforming K-12 education. Ryder worked with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) from 2006 to 2008, forming the Office of Parent and Civic Engagement. She is the co-author of For the Benefit of Our Children: Parent School Collaboration, a report on the quality of parent engagement in the LAUSD. With the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, she initiated a joint office between LAUSD and the chamber specializing in developing school-business partnerships in small learning communities and small schools. Ryder served for nine years as the Corporate Secretary of Edison International and its utility subsidiary, Southern California Edison Co. Additionally, she was the company’s Vice President of community involvement, overseeing philanthropic and employee volunteer activities. Ryder has had extensive nonprofit experience as a board member of numerous community and civic organizations. She currently serves on the board of Claremont Graduate University as Chair of the Presidential Search Committee and Vice Chair of the Audit Committee; on the boards of advisers of the Stanford University and Claremont University schools of education; and as President-elect of the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She is an emeritus trustee of Stanford University and a former member the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission of Senior Colleges and Universities. Ryder earned her bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. She completed the Broad Superintendents Academy in 2006.

Lester Strong represents AARP Experience Corps, which tutors and mentors elementary school children (through third grade) who struggle with reading by utilizing the skills and experiences of adults 55-plus. AARP Experience Corps serves 20,000 students in 19 cities across the United States through a program recognized as the one of the most effective in-school interventions in the country. Strong has served as a leader in educational entrepreneurship and development. He was the Chief Development Officer for the BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) Foundation, which provides tutoring and mentoring services to underserved children. Strong’s efforts doubled the foundation's endowment and propelled expansion from three to five cities: Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, New York and Springfield, Mass. A longtime proponent and practitioner of meditation, Lester was also CEO of the SYDA Foundation, an organization that provides instruction in yoga and meditation in 46 countries. Strong spent 25 years in the television industry as an executive, producer, reporter and anchor in Charlotte (WBTV), Atlanta (WSB), New York (ABC Entertainment) and Boston (WHDH). His work earned him a host of national and regional awards, including five regional Emmy Awards and a White House commendation from President Ronald Reagan.

Ruth A. Wooden (Chair) began her encore life stage in January 2011, following her seven-year tenure as President of Public Agenda, a nonpartisan opinion research organization helping Americans explore and understand critical issues. Before her time at Public Agenda, Wooden was Senior Counselor at the international communications firm Porter Novelli, working with client business related to social marketing, social advertising, strategic philanthropy and cause marketing. Prior to joining Porter Novelli, she served as volunteer President and Chief Executive Officer of The National Parenting Association, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization in New York. Wooden has more than 30 years experience in marketing and advertising, and served for 12 years as President and Chief Executive Officer of The Advertising Council, the nation’s leading producer of public service communications programs. Earlier in her career, Wooden held a variety of senior marketing and consumer brand management positions with N.W. Ayer Inc. Advertising in New York and the Ralston Purina Company in St. Louis. Her encore career work includes communications consulting to various nonprofit groups, and she is also a part-time graduate student and adjunct faculty member at Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University in New York. Wooden serves on the boards of Demos, Futures Without Violence, TeachersCount and Public Agenda. The recipient of numerous business and philanthropic awards, Wooden is a former Director of CARE, Research! America, Independent Sector, the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, The Harvard Business School Initiative on Social Enterprise and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.

John Gardner (right)
and Marc Freedman

Photo by Linda O'Neill, ASA

At the time of his appointment to the Cabinet by President Johnson, Gardner was President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. During that time, Gardner served continuously as a consultant to various government agencies: AID, the State Department, the U.S. Air Force, the White House, the U.S. delegation to the United Nations, and others. In addition, he served as a member of President Kennedy's Task Force on Education; Chair of President Kennedy's Commission on International Educational and Cultural Affairs; Chair of President Johnson's Task Force on Education and the 1965 White House Conference on Education; a member of President Carter's Commission on an Agenda for the Eighties and Chair of the President's Commission on White House Fellowships. In the early 1980s, he served as a member of President Reagan's Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives.

Gardner authored several books on leadership and self renewal, and wrote extensively on public service. He was editor of President Kennedy's book, To Turn the Tide, and authored Excellence, Self-Renewal, No Easy Victories, The Recovery of Confidence, In Common Cause, Morale, and On Leadership. He was the co-editor, with Francesca Gardner Reese, of Quotations of Wit and Wisdom (Know or Listen to Those Who Know). In 1991, Independent Sector published his brief treatise entitled, Building Community.

Gardner received his B.A. and M.A. in psychology from Stanford, where he returned as a trustee and professor. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and taught psychology at the University of California, Connecticut College for Women, and Mount Holyoke College. In 1943, Gardner joined the U.S. Marine Corps and earned the rank of captain before his release from active duty. Gardner served on numerous boards and councils and received many awards and honorary degrees. In 1964, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. In 2000, the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities was established at Stanford University in honor of his lifetime of public service. John W. Gardner died February 16, 2002, at the age of 89.