Valerie S. Lies

Valerie was appointed President and CEO of the Donors Forum of Chicago, a regional association of grantmakers in June 1987. The Forum has a membership of over 200 foundations and corporations and approximately 1,300 nonprofit Forum Partners. The Donors Forum operates the second largest philanthropic library in the country serving more than 15,000 individuals annually through three locations.

Prior to her joining the Donors Forum, Ms. Lies was Vice President of the Public Education Fund, a national grantmaking foundation located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.   She joined the Otto Bremer Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1974 as a program associate and became its first Executive Director in 1977, a position she held until December 1981.

Ms. Lies has served as a board member of the Minnesota Council on Foundations, Women and Philanthropy, the Council on Foundations, INDEPENDENT SECTOR, and was founding chair of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. She is currently chair of the board of the National Center for Family Philanthropy.  In 2004, Ms. Lies was named Person of the Year by the Corporate Responsibility Group of Greater Chicago. Ms Lies was named one of the Nonprofit Times Top 50 Power and Influence leaders in 2005.


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