Ellen Alberding

Ellen S. Alberding is President & CEO and a board member of the Joyce Foundation. Ellen oversees the charitable distribution of $65 million annually from assets of $1.3 billion. Under her leadership, Joyce has gained national prominence with a grant portfolio rooted in the core belief that communities are stronger when they share benefits broadly. The Joyce Foundation funds the development and advancement of policy reforms to address racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation. It invests heavily in research to gather facts and data so that proposed policy solutions are based on solid evidence.

As chief executive of Joyce, Ellen is active in the regional and national policy arena. She is one of the founders of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities (PSPC), a funder collaborative investing in community-based strategies tor educe gun violence in Chicago. Ellen serves as a member of the Loyola University Board of Trustees, where she is Chair of the Student Success Committee and a member of the Investment Committee; as a member of the Chicago Public Education Fund’s Board of Directors, and is a founding board member of Advance Illinois, which advocates for public education reform. She was also a founding board member of Skills for America’s Future, which works to meet the needs of business and improve employment opportunities for community college students.

Ellen also serves on the National Park Foundation’s National Council; was a former board member and chair of the National Park Foundation; and has served as Vice Chair of City Colleges of Chicago. From 2010to 2016, Ellen was a board member of the Economic Club of Chicago, and on the Executive Committee of the Commercial Club. She is frequently invited to speak on a range of issues, from the impact of public policy, the role of foundations in addressing the nation’s challenges, and philanthropic accountability and governance.

Ellen holds a bachelor’s degree in English with honors from Brown University, and an MBA from Northwestern University.