The Cleveland Foundation has announced that its longtime president and CEO Ronn Richard will retire in the second half of 2023. 

Richard, who has led the foundation since July 2003, will conclude his tenure as the second-longest-serving head of the foundation, behind only Leyton E. Carter (1928-53). Richard spearheaded the foundation’s move to midtown and construction of its new headquarters, and he played a lead role in developing and implementing a plan for transforming public education in the city. Under Richard’s leadership, the foundation’s endowment doubled from $1.5 billion in 2003 to more than $3 billion in 2023, and he helped increase the foundation’s grantmaking to record levels, including more than $100 million in support of the greater Cleveland community each of the past six years. 

Prior to leading the foundation, Richard was managing director and chief operating officer of In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital fund. In that role, he worked to ensure the prompt and effective delivery of new technologies to the U.S. intelligence community. 

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to lead the Cleveland Foundation for the past two decades,” said Richard. “I leave knowing our organization has worked with local partners to achieve transformational change and am confident the foundation’s future is bright thanks to a wonderful board, a marvelous staff, a record endowment, and tremendous working relationships with local leaders in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. I’m also grateful to the foundation’s donors, who have allowed us to do so much for the community as a result of their generosity.”

(Photo credit: McKinley Wiley)