For Immediate Release

ALEXA CULWELL AND RICARDO MILLETT JOIN THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY

BOSTON, MA: The Center for Effective Philanthropy has elected Alexa C. Culwell, CEO of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, and Ricardo A. Millett, president of the Woods Fund of Chicago, to its Board of Directors.

"These additions to CEP's Board of Directors will significantly strengthen the organization as we pursue our mission of providing foundation leaders the management and governance tools to define, assess, and improve overall foundation performance," said Phil Buchanan, CEP's Executive Director. "Both are highly regarded in the field as leaders and innovators who focus in their work on the achievement of tangible results. And both believe that performance assessment tools and data are critical to optimizing foundation performance."

Ms. Culwell served as the executive director of both the Schwab Foundation for Learning and the Schwab Family Foundation from 1992 to 2000. In 2001, the two entities were merged and she was named CEO of the newly formed Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation. Under Alexa's leadership, the foundation has deepened its programs and outreach and expanded from a staff of two to a staff of nearly 50.

The Schwab Foundation focuses in two areas: learning differences and human services. In the learning differences field, the Foundation is recognized as a leader in working to help children with learning challenges be successful in learning and life. In human services, the Foundation's programs focus on the intersecting issues of homelessness, substance abuse, and poverty prevention, emphasizing collaboration, capacity building, evaluation, and knowledge sharing.

Ms. Culwell speaks and writes to audiences around the country about the importance of foundations being accountable for positive social impact, citing examples and lessons learned from the work of the Schwab Foundation.

Dr. Millett is a veteran foundation professional with deep experience and expertise in the areas of foundation performance evaluation and strategic planning. Prior to joining the Woods Fund, he led evaluation efforts at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and served as senior vice president of planning and resource management for the United Way of Massachusetts Bay in Boston.

His distinguished career has included tenures in state government, the nonprofit sector, and academia, focusing on policy development and evaluation with a long-term commitment to issues of social and economic justice.

He served as deputy associate commissioner of the Department of Social Services for Massachusetts, where he managed the Office of Planning and Evaluation. He later worked on national policy issues related to day care and urban housing as a senior analyst at ABT Associates.

Dr. Millett also served as director for Neighborhood Housing and Development for the Boston Redevelopment Authority, executive director of the Roxbury Multi-service Center, director of the Martin Luther King Center at Boston University and associate professor for research and evaluation at Atlanta University.

He has published a book and several articles on citizen participation and community capacity building.

Dr. Millett and Ms. Culwell join other members of CEP's Board of Directors: Jonathan Cohen, co-founder of the New Israel Fund and the Jewish Funders Network; Joel Fleishman, senior advisor to The Atlantic Philanthropies and director of the Sam and Ronnie Heyman Center for Ethics, Public Policy and the Professions at Duke University; Mark Fuller, chairman and CEO of the Monitor Group; Phil Giudice, management consultant and philanthropist; Mark Kramer, foundation expert and managing director of the Foundation Strategy Group; Michael Porter, Bishop William Lawrence university professor, Harvard University; and David Salem, president and CEO of The Investment Fund for Foundations.

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY

The Center for Effective Philanthropy is a nonprofit research and educational organization whose mission is to provide foundation executives and trustees the management and governance tools needed to define, assess, and improve overall foundation performance. Major funders of CEP include The Atlantic Philanthropies, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Surdna Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

CEP was founded by foundation expert Mark Kramer and Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter.

More information on CEP's work, including its recent report Indicators of Effectiveness: Understanding and Improving Foundation Performance, is available here.