Ellen Alberding

A portrait of a light-skinned woman with gray hair. She smiles showing her teeth and wears an abstract print black and white collared shirt. Behind her are books on a book shelf.

President and CEO of The Joyce Foundation

Ellen S. Alberding is the President and CEO of The Joyce Foundation (Opens in a new tab), a Chicago-based, private philanthropy that invests in public policy and strategies to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region. President Obama spent eight years (1994-2002) as a board member of the Joyce Foundation, which distributes $65 million annually from assets of $1.3 billion. As chief executive of Joyce, Ellen is active in the regional and national policy arena, serving as a founding member of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, and as a founding board member of Skills for America's Future and Advance Illinois. Ellen is also a member of the Board of Trustees at Loyola University. She holds a bachelor's degree in English from Brown University and an MBA from Northwestern University.

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