Opinion

Contemplating potential future Ford Foundation leadership

Jul 25, 2024
Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice, New York City (Wikimedia Commons)

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