Chief Executive: Dr. Salvatore LaSpada
Dr. Salvatore LaSpada joined the Institute as Chief Executive in April 2006. Formerly, he was Director of The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW) at the Rockefeller Foundation, a strategic philanthropy training and networking programme for high net worth individuals and new foundation trustees which is now housed at the Institute for Philanthropy. From 1993-1999, he was a philanthropic advisor to the Rockefeller family at Rockefeller Financial Services. His previous affiliations include: the Brazil Office of the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation (where he was earlier a post-doctoral Fellow), and the MacArthur Foundation (where he was a Visiting Scholar). He was an Eisenhower Fellow in Argentina where he promoted strategic philanthropy to corporations and individuals of wealth. Previous to his work in philanthropy, he was founder and director of the Urban Video Project, a media education programme for at-risk minority youth in New York City.
Dr. LaSpada is a Trustee of two grant making trusts, Zennström Philanthropies (London) and the Raymond and Gloria Naftali Foundation (New York). He is the former Chair of Tamkeen: The Center for Arab-American Empowerment, Hispanics in Philanthropy and the Hetrick-Martin Institute. He has served on the advisory committee of Philanthropy UK and the Global Equity Initiative at Harvard University. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Bologna's Masters in International Studies in Philanthropy.
Dr. LaSpada holds a B.A. in Ancient Greek and Latin (Haverford College), Masters degrees in Communication and Education (Temple University and Columbia University) and a Doctorate in International Education and Development (Columbia University).