New Hampshire Charitable Foundation announces new president and CEO

Today, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation board of directors announced that Shawn V. Morehead has been selected to be the Foundation’s next president and CEO. Morehead will succeed Richard Ober of Dublin, who will retire in July after 16 years as president and CEO of New Hampshire’s statewide community foundation.

Morehead currently serves as executive vice president and chief program officer at the New York Community Trust, the community foundation for New York City, Westchester and Long Island, which makes more than $200 million in grants each year. She has deep experience designing and implementing educational, legal and philanthropic initiatives to promote equity of opportunity and help people thrive. Morehead has strong family ties to New Hampshire. Her mother was raised in Dover, her parents live in Laconia, and Morehead is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy.

Morehead holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School and a bachelor’s from Columbia University. Her experience includes serving as lead counsel in federal class-action cases to protect the civil rights of public school students, including those with disabilities. During her 15 years at the Trust, she has led an annual $60 million grantmaking program and secured and led distribution of a $35 million fund to improve public education and has been a leader in collaborative philanthropic initiatives to support young immigrants. She was instrumental in creating, raising funds and leading grant distribution for the Trust’s $73 million COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund.

“I am honored and humbled to be selected for this role,” Morehead said. “Community foundations are unique institutions with myriad tools to strengthen our communities — woven into the fabric of neighborhoods, cities, and states not just as a source of grants and scholarships, but as a resource for generous people, civic groups, and policymakers. I have had the opportunity to get to know the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation’s work through several national community foundation projects. The Foundation’s commitment to making sure everyone in New Hampshire can thrive is exemplary and genuine, as is its ability to pursue that commitment through grantmaking and scholarships, and also through coalition-building and advocacy. I am eager to join the community, build relationships, and work with the Foundation’s top-notch board and staff. And I am excited to come back to New Hampshire for good.”

The Charitable Foundation board conducted a comprehensive, nationwide search for the Foundation’s next leader. Morehead will be the sixth president of the Foundation, which has awarded $1 billion in grants to nonprofits and scholarships to New Hampshire students since it was established in 1962 and stewards more than $1.2 billion in charitable assets entrusted by New Hampshire’s most generous people, families and businesses.

“We are thrilled that Shawn will be joining the Foundation,” said Foundation Board President Joe Morone. “She is a trusted and nationally recognized leader with a wealth of experience in philanthropy, coalition-building, negotiating and creating opportunity — and she has deep connections to New Hampshire. We are confident that she is the right person to carry the Foundation’s work forward.”

Morehead will start at the Charitable Foundation on July 13. The Foundation will take the opportunity to welcome her, and to thank Ober for his service, at its Annual Meeting on June 11 in Manchester.

“Serving in this role has been the greatest honor of my professional life thanks to our staff, board, and donor and community partners,” Ober said. “I have admired Shawn’s work in New York for several years and am excited about her appointment. Her experience in community philanthropy, law, and civil rights will make her a great leader in our timeless purpose to make New Hampshire a community where everyone can thrive.”

Read Foundation Board Chair Joe Morone’s letter to the community, where he welcomes Shawn Morehead as president and CEO and thanks Dick Ober for his service to the Foundation and New Hampshire.