Greater Milwaukee Foundation: Announces new president

FROM: Denise Callaway, Director of Communications 414-272-5805

Milwaukee, Wisconsin…The Greater Milwaukee Foundation announced today it has selected as its new president and CEO a seasoned community foundation leader with a strong track record of developing creative and innovative solutions to meet community needs.

Ellen M. Gilligan, currently vice president for Community Investment at The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, will become the Foundation’s third chief executive officer effective September 1, 2010. Gilligan succeeds Douglas M. Jansson, who is retiring after 17 years of service. She was selected by the Foundation Board after a nationwide search.

“Ellen has a depth and breadth of experience over more than two decades of community service that uniquely positions her to guide the Greater Milwaukee Foundation into our next century of service,” said Foundation Board chair Judy Jorgensen. “The Foundation and the greater Milwaukee community are truly fortunate to have a leader of her caliber and ability.”

Gilligan has worked for The Greater Cincinnati Foundation since 1998 when she was hired to launch, develop the focus for, and manage the Foundation’s Community Leadership Initiatives. In 2003, her duties expanded to include responsibility for the strategic direction in the design, development and management of all grantmaking programs.

“What impresses us most about Ellen is her dedication to the entire Cincinnati community and her belief that community foundations play a critical role working with other community partners to successfully address many of the long-term issues facing us, particularly issues involving education,” said incoming Foundation Board chair John W. Daniels Jr. “We are confident that Ellen, working closely with the Foundation Board and staff, will be a key leader in efforts to successfully identify and address some of the pressing issues facing our community.”

In Cincinnati, Gilligan has collaborated with diverse groups of funding partners and community leaders, including:

* Raising and managing $20 million to support the work of more than 10 strategic partnerships focused on pressing issues including public education, neighborhood and community development, regional cooperation, race relations, safety net services and financial stability;

* Developing and launching GCF’s Mission Related Investing Program that has committed nearly $5 million in low-interest loans and equity investments to high- impact real estate and job creation projects; and

* Managing the $7 million five-year, twelve-partner funders collaborative Better Together Cincinnati which worked to improve race relations, community-police relations and address racial inequity by concentrating efforts on both the symptoms and the causes of disparities in the greater Cincinnati area.

Gilligan also serves as the president and secretary of the $22 million The HealthPath Foundation of Ohio, a foundation focused on advancing the health of underserved Ohioans.

Prior to her service at the GCF, Gilligan worked for the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, the United Way of America, The Eisenhower Foundation, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and the U.S. Small Business Administration. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado.

The Greater Milwaukee Foundation is a community foundation that focuses on critical issues facing the greater Milwaukee area. The Foundation’s highest funding priority is supporting creative efforts that address issues of poverty in our community, particularly grants focusing on education, employment, and strengthening children, youth and families. It is also actively engaged, through the Foundation’s Community Partnerships program, in identifying emerging needs, bringing together broad-based groups interested in making change, and working in partnership with others to develop solutions that help individuals and communities reach their fullest potential.

The Greater Milwaukee Foundation is a family of more than 1,000 individual charitable funds, each created by donors to serve the charitable causes of their choice. Grants from these funds serve people throughout Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties and beyond. In 2009, the Foundation made grants of more than $27 million and achieved assets of $519 million. Started in 1915, the Foundation is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the world.

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