Darren Walker
Foundation Leadership
Board Member
Darren Walker is president of the Ford Foundation, a $16 billion international social justice philanthropy with offices in the United States and 10 regions around the globe. He chaired the philanthropy committee that brought a resolution to the city of Detroit’s historic bankruptcy. Under his leadership, the Ford Foundation became the first non-profit in US history to issue a $1 billion social bond in the US to stabilize non-profit organizations in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
Before joining Ford, Darren was vice president at the Rockefeller Foundation, overseeing global and domestic programs including the Rebuild New Orleans initiative after Hurricane Katrina. In the 1990s, as COO of the Abyssinian Development Corporation—Harlem’s largest community development organization—he led a comprehensive revitalization strategy, including building over 1,000 units of affordable housing and the first major commercial development in Harlem since the 1960s. Earlier, he had a decade-long career in international law and finance at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and UBS.
Darren co-chaired New York City’s Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers and he cofounded both the US Impact Investing Alliance and the Presidents’ Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy. He supported his friend Agnes Gund in creating the pioneering Art for Justice Fund and serves on many boards, including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the National Gallery of Art (president), the Obama Foundation and the Clooney Foundation for Justice. In the private sector he is on the boards of Ralph Lauren, PepsiCo and Bloomberg Inc. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and is the recipient of 20 honorary doctorate degrees. In 2022, he was awarded France’s highest cultural honor, the Commander des Arts et des Lettres for his leadership in the arts. In 2023 he was also appointed by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II to the Order of the British Empire for services to UK/US relations. In 2024, President Joe Biden awarded Darren the National Humanities Medal, which honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of and engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects.
Educated exclusively in public schools, Darren was a member of the first class of Head Start in 1965 and received his bachelor’s and law degrees from The University of Texas at Austin, which in 2009 recognized him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award—its highest alumni honor. He has been included on numerous leadership lists, including TIME’s annual 100 Most Influential People, Rolling Stone’s 25 People Shaping the Future, Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, Ebony’s Power 100, and Out magazine’s Power 50. In 2020 Darren was named Wall Street Journal’s 2020 Philanthropy Innovator of the Year and 2023 Foundation Leader of the Year by Inside Philanthropy.