Phillip Henderson

Phillip Henderson

Phillip Henderson is president of the Surdna Foundation, a New York City-based family foundation focused on fostering sustainable communities in the United States. The Surdna Foundation, founded in 1917, operates programs in sustainable environment, strong local economies, and thriving cultures. Phil has been with Surdna since 2007, and during his tenure the Foundation has focused intently on cross-programmatic work, including the launch of an institution-wide grantmaking initiative in support of public participation in New Orleans.

Phillip Henderson is president of the Surdna Foundation, a New York City-based family foundation focused on fostering sustainable communities in the United States. The Surdna Foundation, founded in 1917, operates programs in sustainable environment, strong local economies, and thriving cultures. Phil has been with Surdna since 2007, and during his tenure the Foundation has focused intently on cross-programmatic work, including the launch of an institution-wide grantmaking initiative in support of public participation in New Orleans. Prior to his appointment at Surdna, Phil was vice president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the organization and providing strategic guidance to staff and programs. Phil joined GMF in 1998 as a program officer responsible for grantmaking in economics; he later worked on special projects promoting civil society development in Central and Eastern Europe, including serving as chairman of the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, establishing the Belgrade-based Balkan Trust for Democracy and the Bucharest-based Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation. Before his time at GMF, Phil lived in Eastern Europe, where he worked with the Civic Education Project (CEP), a non-profit group specializing in higher education reform in Central and Eastern Europe. While with the organization, he served as a visiting economics lecturer at the University of Timisoara in Romania, country director for CEP in Romania, and director of CEP’s Central and East European programs while based in Prague and Budapest. Phil serves on the Boards of Living Cities and BoardSource, and is the Chairperson of the Romanian American Foundation. Phil holds an M.A. in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a B.A. in economics from Michigan State University. He lives in Maplewood, NJ with his wife and two sons.

Phillip Henderson

Contributing Articles

Thinking Differently about Entrepreneurs and Poverty

Solving the problems of poverty in American cities requires us to support visionary, entrepreneurial women and people of color. This blog post is part of the series “Closing the Racial Gaps: Together We Can,” which highlights efforts across the United States that show promise for closing racial opportunity gaps and creating a more equitable future. One of the great clichés of American …

Contributing Resources

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