Nobody asked, but …
The Ford Foundation announced earlier this week that its president Darren Walker will be stepping down by the end of 2025. Assisted by a seven-member search committee, the foundation’s board of trustees will oversee the process by which Walker’s successor is selected, according to the announcement.
Nobody asked us, but below is an earnestly compiled and admittedly partial (merely alphabetical) list of potential candidates for the role.
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Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of Defense
Bob Bauer, professor, New York University School of Law
James Bennet, senior editor, The Economist
Anthony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State
Mike Bloomberg, co-founder, Bloomberg L.P.
Marla Blow, president and chief executive officer, Skoll Foundation
Arthur Brooks, professor, Harvard Kennedy School
Stephen Breyer, former associate justice, U.S. Supreme Court
Phil Buchanan, president, Center for Effective Philanthropy
William Burns, director, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Secretary of Transportation
Don Chen, president, Surdna Foundation
Liz Cheney, former U.S. Representative from Wyoming
Heather Conley, president, German Marshall Fund of the United States
Bill Clinton, former U.S. President
Chelsea Clinton
Hillary Clinton, former U.S. Senator from New York and former U.S. Secretary of State
Jamie Dimon, president and chief executive officer, JPMorgan Chase
Tom Donilon, advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden
Anita Dunn, advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden
Marc Elias, chair, Elias Law Group
Rahm Emanuel, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan
Russ Feingold, president, American Constitution Society
Henry Ford III, member, board of directors, Ford Motor Company
Patrick Gaspard, president, Center for American Progress
Claudine Gay, former president, Harvard University
Al Gore, former U.S. Vice President
Leah Hunt-Hendrix, co-founder, Solidaire
Maria Rosario Jackson, chair, U.S. National Endowment for the Arts
Valerie Jarrett, chief executive officer, Obama Foundation
Van Jones, analyst and commentator
Ro Khanna, U.S. Representative from California
Ron Klain, former White House Chief of Staff
Mark Kramer, co-founder, FSG
Paul Krugman, professor, City University of New York
Gara La Marche, president, Democracy Alliance
Shelly Lowe, chair, U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities
Liz Magill, former president, University of Pennsylvania
Harold Meyerson, editor at large, The American Prospect
Steve Mnuchin, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Barack Obama, former U.S. President
John Palfrey, president, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Leon Panetta, former U.S. Secretary of Defense
Nancy Pelosi, speaker emerita, U.S. House of Representatives
Hilary Pennington, executive vice president for programs, Ford Foundation
Samantha Power, administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development
Steve Richetti, advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden
Kelley Robinson, Human Rights Campaign
Carmen Rohas, president and chief executive officer, Marguerite Casey Foundation
Anthony Romero, executive director, American Civil Liberties Union
Mitt Romney, U.S. Senator from Utah
Cecilia Rouse, president, Brookings Institiution
Minouche Safik, president, Columbia University
Rajiv Shah, president, Rockefeller Foundation
Sonia Sotomayor, associate justice, U.S. Supreme Court
Larry Summers, former president, Harvard University
Neera Tanden, director, White House Domestic Policy Council
Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus, Harvard University
Edgar Villanueva, founder and director, Decolonizing Wealth Project
Michael Waldman, president, Brennan Center for Justice
Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island
Janet Yellen, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Bob Zoellick, chairman, Temasik Americas