October 25, 2012
The Cameron Foundation names new President
Todd Graham combines broad-based foundation management experience with commitment to community
Petersburg, Va. (October 25, 2012): After a nationwide search, The Cameron Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of Todd Graham, a Petersburg resident, as President of the Foundation. Mr. Graham succeeds Handy Lindsey, the Foundation’s first and only president, who informed the board in early 2011 of his plans to relocate to Washington, DC at the end of 2012.
For the past year, Mr. Graham has been Executive Director of the Robins Foundation, a private family foundation noted for its impactful giving in and around Richmond, VA.
For the previous eight years (2003-2011), he had been CEO of the Iowa West Foundation, a $350-million grantmaking foundation focused on improving communities in southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska.
As noted by Cleveland Wright, chair of The Cameron Foundation’s search committee and founding chair of its board, “Todd Graham was the board’s unanimous choice for the post. We are confident his grantmaking and community-building experience in Virginia, Iowa and Nebraska over the past nine years and his earlier experiences in Seattle and Cleveland have prepared him well to build on the considerable successes our foundation has enjoyed under Handy Lindsey’s leadership.”
“It’s a very exciting opportunity.” said Mr. Graham about the appointment. “When my wife and I returned to Virginia last year and located in Petersburg, I never expected to have the opportunity to head a major foundation in my new home town. The experience with the Robins Foundation has been most gratifying, but the opportunity to play such a significant role with the most impactful grantmaker in the Petersburg area was simply too compelling to ignore.”
Continued Graham, “The board and staff of The Cameron Foundation are well known throughout philanthropic circles for their commitment to the people and progress of Petersburg and the surrounding areas. It will be a privilege to build on the good work of Handy Lindsey and the team he assembled as together we capitalize on the significant opportunities ahead.”
During Graham’s eight years as CEO, the Iowa West Foundation facilitated the planning and development of a $34-million collaborative human services campus that enabled five vital agencies to provide integrated services in a central location. Other important initiatives included a comprehensive partnership with the local school district to raise levels of educational attainment and the implementation of an innovative art and culture economic development strategy to revitalize the local community.
From 1999-2003, Graham led a unique Seattle-based foundation funded by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and owner of the Seattle Seahawks, to address the impact of the new Seahawks Stadium on surrounding downtown neighborhoods. From 1983-1999, he served as the founding executive director of a Cleveland, Ohio-based collaborative of 40 educational institutions, healthcare facilities, human service agencies and businesses that collaborated on a wide range of programs and services to improve the surrounding community on the eastern edge of downtown Cleveland.
Larry Tucker, chair of The Cameron Foundation’s board and an ex-officio member of the search committee, said, “Our search encompassed over 220 sources and prospects in 35 states and the District of Columbia. We are exceptionally pleased that our efforts resulted in the appointment of such a seasoned foundation executive with a proven history of community impact. The fact that Todd Graham had already chosen to make Petersburg his home made his candidacy just that much more convincing.”
The Foundation’s search committee was assisted in its efforts by BoardWalk Consulting, an Atlanta-based search firm specializing in “finding leaders that matter for missions that matter.”
As Executive Director at the Robins Foundation, Graham worked closely with the foundation’s board on a number of initiatives, among them the Partnership for Families Northside, a foundation-initiated collaborative of over 20 organizations that serves vulnerable families and their children.
Graham received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history, cum laude, from Wake Forest University; subsequently, he earned a Master of City Planning from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.
Graham will begin his work at The Cameron Foundation in December 2012.
About The Cameron Foundation:
Founded in 2003, The Cameron Foundation emerged from the sale of what was then known as Southside Regional Medical Center. The Foundation focuses on capacity building by promoting and supporting groups that help the residents of the region. The service area includes the cities of Petersburg, Colonial Heights, and Hopewell; the counties of Dinwiddie, Prince George, and Sussex; and the portion of Chesterfield County lying south of Route 10.
Nine years after its founding, The Cameron Foundation is widely regarded as a major philanthropic entity committed to improving the health and quality of life for people in Petersburg, VA and the surrounding area. Since inception, the Foundation’s investments in the area’s people, programs, and institutions have totaled nearly $60 million, and the underlying corpus has stabilized at about $110 million.
Further information on The Cameron Foundation can be found at camfound.org