Obama Foundation Announces Addition of Connie Ballmer and Demond Martin to the Board of Directors

August 7, 2020 at 10:01 AM CDT

CHICAGO — Today, the Obama Foundation announced that Connie Ballmer, philanthropist and civic activist, and Demond Martin, investor and community leader, have joined the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

Ballmer and Martin will join current members Martin Nesbitt, Thelma Golden, Dr. Mahalia Hines, Glenn Hutchins, Sean Parker, David Plouffe, J. Kevin Poorman, Penny Pritzker, John Rogers, Michael Sacks, Juan Salgado, Julianna Smoot, and Robert Wolf, who serve as volunteer members of the Board. Nesbitt serves as the chairman of the Board.

“I’ve committed my life to using civic engagement to create resources that provide a safe environment, strong education, and economic mobility for children and families which can change the trajectory of their lives,” said Ballmer. ”I look forward to working with the Obama Foundation to support their many young leaders who are actively working to make communities around the world better”.

“I firmly believe in the transformative power of education and the work the Obama Foundation is doing to provide leadership training and resources to influence positive change in communities,” said Martin.”President Obama’s belief that we cannot wait for change but rather that we are the change, emboldens me for the path ahead and the investments I will make in this important work.”

“So much of what we do centers around strengthening our communities, supporting young leaders, and forging connections -- all values that Connie and Demond exhibit through their philanthropic efforts and corporate endeavors,” said Foundation CEO David Simas. ”Their respective backgrounds in strategic community investment will be an immense benefit to the Foundation.”

The Obama Foundation continues to work hard, both fulfilling its core missions of inspiring, empowering, and connecting people to change their world and designing a landmark Presidential Center and Museum on the South Side of Chicago. Recently the Foundation released its 2019 Annual Report showcasing the Foundation’s global network of leaders whose work in 2019 had a meaningful, mission-aligned impact on communities around the world.

More updates on the Foundation’s recent work may be found here.

Connie Ballmer is the Co-Founder of Ballmer Group, which supports efforts to improve economic mobility for children and families in the United States who are disproportionately likely to remain in poverty. Ballmer Group uses philanthropy and civic activism to help ensure that a person thrives through a healthy birth and stable family, a safe childhood and adolescence, a good education, and a career that can support a family. Ballmer Group works nationally and engages deeply in three regions – Washington state, Los Angeles County, and southeast Michigan.

Connie’s long standing philanthropic focus has been on the well-being of children, especially those in the foster care system. Connie is a general partner and founding investor at Blue Meridian Partners, a funding collaborative seeking to make strategic investments that help transform the lives of America’s most economically disadvantaged kids. She also serves on the boards of StriveTogether and the Los Angeles Clippers Foundation.

Investor and philanthropist, Demond Martin is a partner at Adage Capital Management where he has invested in the consumer sector for nearly 20 years. Demond has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Accounting from UNC Charlotte. He also served in the Clinton White House as assistant to Chief of Staff, Erskine Bowles.

Demond and his wife Kia have focused their philanthropic efforts on addressing the gaps created by racial and social injustice, with emphasis in education and healthcare. Through their family foundation, Demond and Kia have been deeply engaged in many great initiatives, including the Martin Scholars at UNC Charlotte, the King Boston memorial, the Tonia Taylor Fund for Health Equity at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and the BSI program at Berklee College of Music. Demond is currently a trustee of the Berklee College of Music and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

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Contact: Courtney D. Williams, cwilliams@obama.org