“At a time when nonprofits are under scrutiny, it is essential to engage policymakers and the public in a productive discussion of the roles and responsibilities of foundations,” says Gunderson, outlining his mission. “And we must deal with the challenge of dramatic growth in both the size of the sector and its increasingly important role in serving the common good.”

Gunderson served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a member from Wisconsin from 1980 to 1996, when he decided not to seek re-election. Before that he served three terms in the Wisconsin State Legislature. He was known for his legislative work in the areas of agriculture, education, employment policy, health care and human rights. Since 1997 he has been a Washington-based managing director with the Greystone Group, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based management and communications consultancy.

“We sought an individual with the vision, the intellectual energy, and the commitment to diversity that must be distinguishing features of twenty-first century philanthropy,” says Emmett Carson, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Foundation and chairman of the Council on Foundations' board of directors. “In government and in the private sector, Steve Gunderson has built a reputation as a forward-looking, fair-minded, and effective agent of progress and new ideas.”

Maxwell King, president of Heinz Endowments and chairman of the Council on Foundations’ search committee, says Gunderson “looks at all sides of a question, works with people from both sides of the aisle, and advances creative solutions to some very tough problems.” Those qualities make him “particularly well-suited for the farsighted thinking and flexible approaches philanthropy needs to function most effectively in the global economy,” adds King. –FWR

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