Foundation for the Carolinas names new executive leadership

Foundation for the Carolinas has named Sherri Chisholm chief impact officer and president of its Robinson Center for Civic Leadership, and promoted Tracy Russ to chief of staff and chief strategy officer, the community foundation announced Thursday in a news release.

Both will join the executive leadership team at FFTC, which serves a 13-county region across the Carolinas. Chisholm begins her role in early 2027. Russ will continue leading the foundation's civic leadership work in addition to his expanded duties until then, according to the release.

Chisholm arrives from Leading on Opportunity, where she served as executive director of the decade-long effort to improve economic mobility in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. During her tenure, Charlotte's economic mobility ranking rose from 50th to 38th among major U.S. cities, and the initiative helped direct more than $1 billion in public and private investment toward expanding opportunity, the release said.

In her new post, Chisholm will lead the Robinson Center, the foundation's flagship civic leadership platform, and oversee its Community Programs and Civic Leadership team. The release said she will guide the center's vision and strategy as FFTC works to address what it called the region's most pressing opportunities and challenges.

"Sherri is a transformational leader with a proven ability to bring people together around shared goals and drive meaningful, measurable results," Laura Clark, president of Foundation for the Carolinas, said in the release. "In this new role, Sherri will shape the next chapter of our civic leadership work and strengthen connections between philanthropy, community leadership and impact."

Chisholm said she is honored to build on the Foundation for the Carolinas' legacy and that her first priority in the new role. "My first priority will be listening, learning and engaging with community leaders, nonprofits, fundholders, residents and partners to understand today's challenges and how FFTC and the Robinson Center can create meaningful progress for the future."

Chisholm previously worked as a management consultant and held senior leadership roles in education and other large institutions, the release said. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a master's degree from Harvard University.

Russ has spent more than 25 years working in civic engagement, philanthropy and collaborative problem-solving across the nonprofit, corporate and government sectors. He most recently served as FFTC's senior vice president of civic leadership strategy and impact, where he created and launched fftc:FWD and led Agility Together, an effort to strengthen the local nonprofit ecosystem. He also ran Wells Fargo's Beyond Open program in the Charlotte region, which awarded more than $16 million in grants to local small businesses, according to the release.

In his new role, Russ will serve as a strategic partner to the FFTC president, develop foundation-wide strategy and deepen the organization's ties with community, civic and philanthropic partners.

"Tracy is a thoughtful and forward-looking leader who brings a unique combination of strategic vision, innovative thinking and deep knowledge of our organization," Clark said in the release.

Russ said in the release that the foundation "has long been a trusted institution for bringing people together around shared aspirations and solutions."

The appointments follow two other executive hires this year. Elizabeth Sterling joined FFTC as chief financial officer, and Beverly Ladley was named chief philanthropy and investments officer.