PACS Advisory Board Member

From 1989-2006 Peter Hero was President of Community Foundation Silicon Valley (CFSV).  Early in 2007 he led the merger of CFSV with a nearby community foundation, creating a new $1.7 billion entity to which in 2007-2008 he was Senior Advisor to the CEO and Board of Directors. At the merger CFSV had $1.2 billion in assets (compared to assets of just $7M when he began) and was awarding charitable grants of over $3 million/week. The 50-year old Foundation was recognized in 2001 as the national “Outstanding Foundation of the Year” by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), the only community foundation ever to receive this award. In 1998, CFSV helped create the  Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2), the region’s pre-eminent venture philanthropy giving circle.

Prior to this position, Peter was President of the Maine College of Art, a 4-year college of art and design.  He holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University School of Business, an M.A. (With Distinction) in Art History from Williams College, and (Honorary) Doctor of Laws from the Maine College of Art.  

 

In 1991, Peter was appointed by President George Bush to a 6-year term on the National Council for the Arts. In 2002, President George W. Bush appointed Peter to the National Museum Services Board.  Both appointments were confirmed by the U.S. Senate.  Other recent recognition includes the John Gardner Leadership Award (given by The American Leadership Forum), Lifetime Achievement in the Arts (by Arts Council Silicon Valley), and, in statewide recognition by the California Arts Council, Exemplary Contributions to the Arts.

Fortune Magazine, in an extensive article on CFSV, noted that: “It is Peter Hero, more than anyone else, who has shown Silicon Valley how to give…by channeling the area’s distinctive culture into an unusual brand of charity: demanding, ambitious, self-conscious, creative, even risky—everything you’d expect from Silicon Valley.”

Currently Peter is the founding Chairman of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Foundation and on the Board of Directors of the Skoll Foundation, eBay Foundation, PBS,  The American India Foundation, and is a Visiting Fellow at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Peter was a founding Director of The Entrepreneur’s Foundation and is a past Board member of the Council on Foundations where he chaired the National Committee on Community Foundations.  He has also chaired the World Bank Advisory Committee on global community foundation development.

Internationally, for more than a decade Peter has been working overseas, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, helping create a regional network of community foundations.  Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel appointed him to the 2002 NATO Summit Council of Advisors in Prague.  Peter is a guest lecturer at Stanford Graduate Business School (which has written a case study on CFSV) and his extensive writing has been published in the United States and Europe. His latest book, Local Mission, Global Vision: Community Foundations in the 21st Century was published by the Foundation Center in New York in October, 2008.