Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation Chief Executive Officer Dr Catherine Brown OAM will leave her position as CEO after 12 years leading the organisation.
Under Catherine’s leadership, the Foundation is now Australia’s largest community foundation and an innovative philanthropic organisation. Through a series of transformational projects and an updated Act of Parliament (2017), the Foundation is an important leader in social innovation, affordable housing and homelessness, social enterprise support, impact investment and climate action.
The Foundation’s Chair Mr Paul Bird said, “Catherine has transformed the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation and demonstrated outstanding leadership through the Foundation’s response to the impacts of climate change, affordable housing, community resilience and disaster response. Catherine successfully steered the Foundation through the COVID-19 pandemic with an outstanding grantmaking response, and more recently the Foundation’s centenary celebrations.”
Catherine believes passionately in the power of community philanthropy, knowing that everyone can be a philanthropist to unlock innovation, leverage other resources and create meaningful and lasting change.
“It has been an honour to lead the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation and show the value of funding innovation in areas of community concern such as affordable housing, social enterprise, and climate change,” said Catherine.
“I thank the Board for this opportunity. I am proud that the Foundation has been forward-looking and adaptable and been ready to support the community and the charitable sector through many challenges including COVID-19 over the last 12 years.”
Catherine will leave the Foundation in January 2024. The Foundation’s Board has commenced the recruitment process to appoint the next CEO to lead the Foundation into its second century.
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