Hilary Pennington

Hilary Pennington is an American philanthropist and the executive vice president of Ford Foundation, a position she has held since January 2018. Pennington is celebrated for leading the launch of the five-year, $5 billion BUILD initiative which invested in the sustainability and capacity of 300 social justice organizations around the world.

Previously, she was vice president for Ford Foundation's programming on Education, Creativity, and Free Expression. and led the foundation's effort to double by 2025 the number of low-income Americans who obtain a post secondary credential by age 26.

Early life and education The oldest of 3 children, Pennington was born in South Africa. In her interviews with several media sources, she has mentioned that witnessing the inequality of apartheid in her father's home country of South Africa helped shape her lifelong passion for social justice.

The Ford Foundation In 2018, Pennington was appointed as the executive vice president of Ford Foundation. Pennington was a former adviser to Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and, along with Arthur White, co-founded Jobs for the Future, a national workforce and education nonprofit organization with offices in Boston, Oakland, and Washington, DC.