Wallace Foundation President Will Miller To Step Down Next Year

Today, Will Miller has announced his intention to step down as President of The Wallace Foundation in June 2025. The Board of Directors will launch a national search for Miller's replacement. The search is expected to start in early fall.

“When I joined The Wallace Foundation, my hope was to build on its unusual strategic approach to grantmaking, one that enables learning benefits for both those we support and the broader sector. It has been most rewarding to see that approach evolve in service to our mission to help all communities build a more vibrant and just future,” said Miller.

“It also has been a pleasure to work with and learn from incredibly talented staff and partners over the years. Wallace is a remarkable place, where a diverse array of thoughtful, caring, and committed individuals believe in the power of collaboration and the need for continuous learning and improvement to bring about positive change and lasting impact. I'm inspired by our current team's creativity, ingenuity, and commitment to evidence. Their first-hand experience in the field and deep expertise in their respective disciplines provides an even greater opportunity for Wallace to add value far beyond the grant dollars we spend.”

Miller joined the foundation as its second president in 2011. Under his leadership, Wallace has made meaningful contributions in each of its focus areas – arts, education leadership, and youth development. Wallace-funded research has demonstrated not only that effective principals matter, but that adopting comprehensive and aligned principal pipelines is a feasible, affordable, and effective way for districts to develop large corps of effective principals and improve student outcomes. Results from the foundation's National Summer Learning Project showed the impact of collaborations between school systems and community-based organizations to provide high-quality summer programs on student's math and reading scores, revealing a promising practice for post-COVID recovery efforts. In the arts, Wallace-funded research on building and sustaining audiences is empowering arts organizations with knowledge to make strategic decisions about how to invest limited resources.

During the pandemic's most challenging years, Miller's inclusive leadership style and thoughtful direction led the foundation to place a high priority on being responsive to the needs of grantees. The foundation exhibited flexibility in its grantmaking through emergency general operating grants and funding studies and tools to address urgent pandemic-related needs. As the country also struggled with facing a long history of inequality and injustice, Miller steered Wallace toward its decision to be explicit about its commitment to elevating the experiences of those who are furthest from opportunity to ensure that all people have what they need to reach their full potential. These shifts ensured that emerging out of the pandemic the foundation would be able to apply new learnings and design initiatives with greater relevance to a changed environment.

“On behalf of the board, I want to share my sincere gratitude to Will for his authentic and inspiring leadership over the past 12 years and the continuation of both for another year,” said Board Chair Mary Beth West. “Wallace has established a strong reputation for being a trusted and credible source of evidence, working in collaboration with grantees and partners, and responding to a continuously changing landscape. Will's dedication and unwavering commitment to prioritizing the needs of the foundation and those it supports has been essential to this success. The board is committed to finding a new leader that will honor these core principles while leveraging new opportunities for social change.”

Miller has a long and diverse history of leading organizations, with experience in the business, civic revitalization, and philanthropic sectors. Prior to joining Wallace, he led a privately owned investment management firm, a publicly traded bank holding company, a venture capital fund, and a real estate development firm. He has also served on over 30 boards with varying missions, ranging from the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Yale University to his current board service at Cummins, Inc., a Fortune 250 company, and three American Funds mutual funds managed by Capital Group. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Upon stepping down from Wallace, Miller looks forward to remaining involved in philanthropic work and corporate governance, and potentially exploring some teaching opportunities.

About The Wallace Foundation

Based in New York City, The Wallace Foundation is an independent national philanthropy whose mission is to help all communities build a more vibrant and just future by fostering advances in the arts, education leadership, and youth development. Current areas of interest include school leadership, expanding and diversifying audiences for the arts, social and emotional learning, summer learning, arts education, and afterschool. Wallace aims to help solve problems facing the fields in which it works, benefiting both the organizations it funds directly and the broader field by developing credible, useful knowledge to inform policy and practice nationwide. Research commissioned and produced by the foundation is available without charge at www.wallacefoundation.org

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