Sharon Albert
Bold Strategies Collective
2023
Sharon Alpert is a seasoned philanthropic executive with more than 25 years of experience advancing environmental, economic and social justice. She served as the President and CEO of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, a multigenerational family foundation, with assets of nearly $500 million, that is committed to building a more just, vibrant, sustainable and democratic society. During her tenure, she revamped NCF’s strategy for grantmaking in the U.S. and Israel and led the foundation to align its entire endowment with its mission, making it the largest foundation with a 100% commitment to impact investing. She is recognized as a national leader for using her voice and NCF’s standing as an investor to call on philanthropy and corporations to counter the rising threats of hate, antisemitism and white nationalism. In 2019, NCF filed the first shareholder resolution at Amazon asking it to report on how it addresses the spread of hate speech and restricts related products on its platforms.
Most recently, Sharon created the Bold Strategies Collective to support Executives and Boards of Directors of purpose driven organizations and companies looking to change the status quo. In 2021, she was named the Council on Foundations’ first Executive-In- Residence, where she developed a key area of the Council’s new strategic direction, Building Common Ground.
Sharon joined NCF after 11 years at the Surdna Foundation, where she was promoted to the Vice President of Programs and Strategic Initiatives at the nearly $1 billion family foundation, after successfully directing over $50 million in funding through the Environment Program. Sharon began her career in philanthropy at the Ford Foundation, where she launched the first cross‐portfolio regional equity initiative and a new environmental justice strategy.
Sharon has held positions with Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Washington Office on Environmental Justice, Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), and President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development. She also worked in the private sector as Director of Marketing for a tech startup on Wall Street.
Sharon holds a master’s in public administration and a bachelor’s in agricultural, resource and managerial economics from Cornell University. She currently serves on the Boards of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy and The Solutions Project.
The Summit was more than empty words – it made clear that a solution-driven approach is the only way to fight hate. That’s why the working group activities, which are results driven are going to be critical in defeating violent extremism. The Summit brought together the best minds in government, private sector, academia, and civil society. Being surrounded by these experts sparked new ideas – some of which I’ve already implemented or have written about.
