Terrance Keenan (1924-2009) had a profound impact on both the field of health philanthropy and generations of individuals who have been inspired by his wisdom and values. A longtime Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leader, Keenan created and led many RWJF signature funding programs, including the Nurse Faculty Fellowships, Community Care Funding Partners Program, and the Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers Program (later Faith in Action). By example and instruction, he challenged grantmakers to exercise the freedom they have to invest in leadership and to develop new institutions and systems to confront major needs. He encouraged health funders to embrace both the freedom to fail and the freedom to persist.
In 2010, with support from RWJF, GIH established the biannual Terrance Keenan Institute for Emerging Leaders in Health Philanthropy (TKI) as a living legacy through which Keenan’s words and deeds could inspire the field’s future leaders. TKI nurtures talented foundation staff, nominated by their CEOs, helping them to build relationships and to connect with established figures in the field.
This year, we welcome the fourth class of TKI fellows: Jamie Brown, Jennifer Chubinski, Nhia Lee Daryoushfar, Alexa Eggleston, Alan C. Eversley, Marcy Felsenfeld, Alyson Ferguson, Rebecca Gallo, Deidre Griffith, Shalini Iyer, Randy Lopez, Kimalon Meriweather, Brian Myers, Catherine D. Patterson, Tanya Shah, Erica Snow, Katie E. Wehr, and Janelle Woods-McNish. The 2016 fellows are a diverse group across multiple dimensions. They are employed at conversion, corporate, and private foundations, and represent every region of the country. Their grantmaking interests include delivery system reform, healthy aging, health equity, improving access to quality healthcare, innovation and learning, public health, reducing childhood obesity, and substance use prevention. This description hardly does the fellows justice—please read more about them here.
I offer my special thanks to David Adler of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, July Belk of The California Wellness Foundation, Nichole Maher of Northwest Health Foundation, Scott Moyer of The Jacob & Valeria Langeloth Foundation, and Kara Williams of Health Foundation for Western and Central New York, who made up the 2016 TKI selection committee. You can read more about their selection criteria here.
Support for this year’s TKI was provided by Aetna Foundation, Inc.; Blue Shield of California Foundation; Empire Health Foundation; and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.