Dear Friends,
The Woods Fund Chicago Board of Directors is proud and heartened to welcome Mia Henry as our interim president.
Mia is the founder and CEO of Freedom Lifted, a company that supports justice-centered leadership development. She has more than 20 years of experience in organizational leadership, group facilitation, intergenerational community organizing, and history education. Beginning in 2024, she has brought that expertise to bear in close collaboration with Woods Fund Chicago, facilitating organization-wide conversations on our values, norms, and future planning.
Mia comes to Woods Fund Chicago deeply rooted in histories of Black resistance and collective action. She previously served as the Executive Director of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College, which provides education and capacity-building to activists of all ages. Prior to this, she was the founding director of grantee partner the Chicago Freedom School, providing political education for young people and the adults supporting youth-led social change. After an in-depth training this past spring, she received a formal certificate of interim leadership from the Support Center.
“In laying plans for interim leadership of Woods Fund Chicago, we knew we had immense shoes to fill,” writes Board President Kimberley Rudd. “We sought a leader both grounded in the values that animate the fund and skilled at enacting them while mobilizing others to do the same. In Mia, we have gained a principled, empathetic, and effective interim leader who is deeply familiar with our work and ready to maintain momentum immediately.”
“Woods Fund Chicago has long been a backbone funder of Chicago organizing, and a model for foundations building an expansive sense of fiduciary responsibility,” writes Mia. “As a nonprofit leader and collaborator, I have been grateful for their leadership and support in the fight for racial and economic justice. I am proud to steward the organization forward, and grateful to have an immensely talented and dedicated team for the work ahead.”
Woods Fund’s board and community remain deeply grateful to outgoing President Michelle Morales. Her steadfast, empathetic leadership, fierce commitment to our communities, and consistent challenge to philanthropy to do and be better will shape our work and our city for years to come.
Thank you for your partnership and accompaniment in this transition, and we look forward to continuing our work together.
In gratitude,
The Woods Fund Chicago Board of Directors
Kimberley Rudd, Chair
Alice Kim, Vice Chair
Dayo Harris, Secretary
Matt Reilin, Treasurer
Jose Oliva
Lourdes Torres
Quinn Rallins
Stacey Sutton