Sherece Y. West, Ph.D.
President and CEO

Sherece Y. West is president and CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, a private, independent foundation whose mission is to improve the lives of all Arkansans in three interrelated areas: economic development; education; and economic, racial and social justice.

Involved in philanthropy for over 15 years, Dr. West served as CEO at the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation and as a program associate at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Her professional career includes nearly 20 years of experience in community development, public policy and advocacy, and public service.

In addition to running the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. West is active in a number of nonprofits and philanthropy organizations.

Education

• PhD, Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland
• MA, Public Policy, University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Ann Arbor,Michigan
• BA, Bowie State University, Bowie, Maryland
• Fellow, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Policy Institutes
• 2003–04 Emerging Leaders Fellow, a joint program of Duke University
  and the University of Cape Town in South Africa

Associations and Recognition

• Association of Black Foundation Executives
• Council on Foundations
• Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families
• National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
• National Urban Fellows
• Adjunct Professor, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
• Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Center on Community Philanthropy,
  University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service Center
• 2007 Telly Award winner for work as executive producer of the social documentary Power in the People
• Graduate of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Arkansas Class of 2007–08
• Rotary Club 99 of Little Rock
• Arkansas Women’s Leadership Forum
• Top 180 Power List, 2008 and 2009, and 2011, Arkansas Business Journal