Welcome Jamie Allison-Hope, New W&EHF Executive Director

The Board of Trustees is delighted to announce that effective February 1, Jamie Allison-Hope will succeed Pam David as Executive Director of the Walter & Elise Haas Fund.

Ms. Allison-Hope is currently Vice President Programs at the S. H. Cowell Foundation. Pam David, the Fund’s ED for 15 years, stepped down as planned at the close of 2017 — she is now pursuing the next phase of her career.

In the 65-year history of the Fund, it has had only had two Executive Directors, making Ms. Allison-Hope its third. Board President, Peter E. Haas, Jr. extends his congratulations and welcome to Jamie Allison-Hope:

We’re so pleased to have someone of Jamie’s caliber joining with us to lead the Fund in its future work. Jamie is devoted to developing the kind of leadership that brings a more healthy, just, and vibrant society closer to hand for everyone. Through her work with S. H. Cowell Foundation, she understands how crucial it is to ensure access and create opportunity for all in the Bay Area and beyond. On behalf of my fellow trustees and staff, I’m thrilled to extend to Jamie the warmest of possible welcomes. We are very much looking forward to working with her.

Jamie Allison-Hope has helped lead the S. H. Cowell Foundation since 2006, beginning as the Program Officer in charge of Youth Development grantmaking. She became a Senior Program Officer in 2012, her portfolio growing to encompass Affordable Housing and management of program-related investments (PRIs). Then, she took over the role of Vice President Programs for S. H. Cowell Foundation in 2016.

Ms. Allison-Hope grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and received her undergraduate degree in Political Science and Economics at the University of Tennessee. She earned her Masters from the University of California at Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. Her breadth of civic involvement includes serving on the board of The Whitman Institute, a philanthropy focused on promoting equity, among other priorities.

Ms. Allison-Hope says:

Being asked to build on the legacy of the Fund’s work is an extraordinary opportunity. It’s also a privilege, and one I’m honored and thrilled to have been asked to take on. The Fund’s mission of building a healthy, just, and vibrant society is one to which I have long been personally committed — and it’s one that’s vitally important for all of us to invest in right now. I look forward to helping to lead the Fund into its next phase of work and to adding my creativity and innovation to what Pam David, the family, staff, and so many others have built.

Over its long existence, the Walter & Elise Haas Fund has remained focused on the areas of support Walter A. Haas, Sr. and Elise Stern Haas identified in 1952. Their sense of responsibility for society, their active involvement and leadership, and their respect for community found a strong champion in Pam David.

Among other achievements, Pam extended the Fund’s giving to include a portfolio to address economic security for the working poor and built upon the Fund’s commitment to collaborative partnerships and community initiatives that continue to improve lives in the Bay Area and beyond. Pam predicts Ms. Allison-Hope will find great success at the Fund:

Jamie Allison-Hope is an inspired selection by our board of trustees. She is an experienced and thoughtful leader who shares the family’s and my values and perspective on the role of philanthropy in our communities. I am confident that she will not just continue the Fund’s legacy of being a reliable partner, facilitator, and funder, but will take the Fund to new heights of relevance and effectiveness. It has been an honor to lead the Fund for the past 15 years, and I am so happy to have Jamie step in at this difficult time for the nonprofit sector and the communities to which we hold ourselves accountable.

Please join us in welcoming Jamie Allison-Hope to the Walter & Elise Haas Fund!