The Minneapolis-based McKnight Foundation has announced that Rip Rapson will step down as president of the organization later this summer.

Upon his departure, Rapson, who has served as president of the foundation since 1999, will stay on as a McKnight senior fellow, working both locally and nationally on a series of projects focused on the changing nature of metropolitan and rural communities. The move comes on the heels of a change in leadership of the foundation's family-controlled board. During Rapson's tenure as president, McKnight, like foundations across the country, was forced to reduce its grantmaking in response to ups and downs in the stock market. Nevertheless, the foundation was able to build on its role as a key community catalyst through the creation of non-traditional partnerships, the use of innovative communications strategies, and investments in cutting-edge research.

"Rip proved himself to be as adept at leading the organization during the economic belt-tightening of recent years as he was during the economic boom times that marked his arrival at the foundation," said new board chair Erika Bingham. "During both, he led the foundation in innovative and pioneering work in early childhood development, regional growth policy, inner-city revitalization, arts policy, rural economic development, Mississippi River protection, and wind energy. He leaves a legacy of a foundation that has a stronger infrastructure and a more thoughtful strategic planning process."

Peggy J. Birk, senior vice president and general counsel of Federated Insurance Companies in Owatonna, and a member of the McKnight board since 2001, will serve as interim president while the foundation conducts a national search for a new president.