NEW YORK (July 1, 2025) – Heather Gerken’s appointment as the 11th president of the Ford Foundation, starting later this year, has garnered praise from her existing colleagues, legal experts, and advocates from across civil society and the nonprofit sector.

Gerken is the current dean of Yale Law School and a nationally recognized expert on constitutional law and democracy. She will officially take the helm of the Ford Foundation in November 2025, succeeding Darren Walker and carrying forward the foundation’s mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. 

Learn what people are saying about Heather Gerken and the expertise she will bring as the next president of the Ford Foundation from people who know her well:

Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, said, “As a trustee at the Mellon Foundation, Heather has been a problem-solver par excellence and a pragmatic encourager of brave and bold philanthropic vision, unflaggingly understanding that justice work is carried not only by advocates but also by ideas and in the arts and in culture that give our lives meaning, beauty, and hope. As a scholar, she has applied her fierce intellect to the continuing work of ensuring that our rights are protected and our democracy upheld. As a university leader, Heather empowered students and faculty while dramatically broadening access to legal education. Heather is a person of the utmost integrity and humanity, and a champion for justice who will serve the Ford Foundation with brilliance, force, and grace.” 

Christopher L. Eisgruber, president of Princeton University, said, “Heather Gerken is a field-leading scholar, a visionary thinker, a brilliant lawyer, and a distinguished institutional leader who welcomes vigorous argument and diverse viewpoints. I have benefited tremendously from the wise and thoughtful counsel she has provided as a trustee of Princeton University. In a moment when constitutional democracy needs urgent attention and engagement, I cannot imagine a better president for the Ford Foundation.” 

James Forman, Jr., J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale Law School, said, “Heather Gerken is a visionary and transformative individual who led Yale Law School with her heart and her values. I have personally witnessed Heather’s courage as she fought to ensure legal education serves the public interest. As dean, Heather has championed faculty and students pursuing work with real-world impact and taken on seemingly intractable challenges, from law school rankings to student affordability. Heather has worked tirelessly to make legal education more accessible and welcoming for people from all socioeconomic backgrounds and from every part of this nation.” 

Ben Ginsberg, Volker Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, said, “Although Heather and I do not always agree on issues, she has always encouraged robust debate and appreciated that diverse viewpoints are necessary to achieve the best solutions. She is principled, collaborative, and committed to excellence. In these challenging times, she will bring both an innovative and realistic view of how to strengthen our institutions, increase civic engagement, and make things better.” 

Judge Thomas B. Griffith, constitutional government fellow at the Wheatley Institute at BYU, said, “Heather Gerken has worked to protect democracy and the rule of law for all of her career, including her important work on the American Bar Association’s Task Force on Democracy. She is a pragmatic leader who is committed to pushing back against toxic polarization and working across political divides to find common ground that leads to solutions. 

Fatima Goss Graves, president and ceo of the National Women’s Law Center, said, “In Heather Gerken, the Ford Foundation has found a creative, bold, and clear-eyed leader ready to take on the challenges of these unprecedented times. She is one of the country’s foremost experts on democratic norms and the rule of law, as well as a champion for civil society and the rights and freedoms that are intertwined and foundational to democracy. Her creation of the Tsai Leadership Program at Yale Law School is a prime example of her long-term strategic thinking to equip not only the next generation of lawyers, but the next generation of civic leaders.” 

Katie Hall, founder and co-chair Hall Capital Partners LLC and chair of the board of trustees of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, said, “Heather is one of the most capable and principled leaders I have ever encountered. As a highly thoughtful and effective leader, whose principles match her pragmatism, Heather is uniquely qualified to steer the Ford Foundation. She is mission-driven with an unmatched ability to inspire teams to action. Her courage and passion for justice intertwine with her daily work – it is what energizes her and has been central to making Yale Law School into a center for excellence.” 

Sherrilynn Ifill, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Esq. Endowed Chair in Civil Rights at Howard University, said, “For decades, the Ford Foundation has stood at the forefront of philanthropic leadership in supporting the critical civil society pillars of global democratic infrastructure. In the U.S., the foundation is regarded as mission-critical to ensuring the strength and vitality of our nation’s most important civic organizations, advancing democracy, the humanities, and artistic expression. How wonderful to learn that Ford has continued its tradition of exceptional leadership with the appointment of Heather Gerken, dean at Yale Law School, as its new president. I have been privileged to know Dean Gerken for many years and to serve with her as a foundation board member. A brilliant and visionary lawyer and scholar, Heather is that rare leader who manages to combine intellectual power, deft strategic skill, and down-to-earth kindness. This is wonderful news for Ford and for all of us who are guided and encouraged by Ford’s leadership.”

Judge Michael Luttig, former Fourth Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals, said, “Today, the name Heather Gerken is all but synonymous with American democracy and the rule of law, the Yale Law School Dean having been one of the most passionate, articulate, and influential national leaders defending America’s democracy and rule of law. Universally recognized and admired for her courageous and visionary leadership of uniting rather than dividing people of differences, Heather Gerken is an especially inspired choice to serve as the venerated Ford Foundation’s next president at this perilous time in history. Wherever there is hope, promise, and common cause to be found for an embattled and beleaguered nation and world, Heather Gerken will find it.”

Former United States Attorney Damian Williams said, “Heather Gerken is an extraordinary leader–brilliant, humble, and filled with integrity. I have known her for twenty years, and her commitment to justice and democracy has always been bone-deep. Heather embodies the best of our profession. And I cannot wait to see what she accomplishes in this next chapter at the Ford Foundation.”