Freeman A. Hrabowski III (Chair)
Patricia Schroeder (Vice-Chair)
David Villa (Treasurer)
Douglas X. Patiño (Secretary)
William H. Foege
William C. Bell
Joan B. Poliak
America Bracho
Lynn Huntley, ESQ
David Villa
Ruth W. Massinga (Founding Chair)

Freeman A. Hrabowski, III (Chair)

Freeman A. Hrabowski, III joined Marguerite Casey Foundation Board of Directors in June of 2001, and has served as President of The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) since May 1992.

Dr. Hrabowski currently serves as a consultant to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and universities and school systems nationally. He also serves on a number of civic and corporate boards. Dr. Hrabowski's recent awards include election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, receiving the prestigious McGraw Prize in Education and the U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, being named Marylander of the Year by the editors of the Baltimore Sun, and being listed among Fast Company magazine’s first “Fast 50 Champions of Innovation” in business and technology.

He has co-authored two books, Beating the Odds and Overcoming the Odds (Oxford University Press), focusing on parenting and high-achieving African American males and females in science. Both books are used by universities, school systems, and community groups around the country.

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Patricia Schroeder (Vice-Chair)

Former Congresswoman Patricia Scott Schroeder joined Marguerite Casey Foundation Board of Directors in June of 2001, for which she chairs the Communications and Advocacy Committee and serves on the Finance and Investment Committee.

Schroeder is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the national trade organization of the U.S. book publishing industry, a post she assumed on June 1, 1997. Schroeder left Congress undefeated in 1996 after representing Colorado’s First Congressional District (Denver) in the United States House of Representatives for 24 years.

From January to June 1997, she held the rank of Professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. In addition to heading the AAP, Schroeder serves on the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights Executive Committee. She also serves on various advisory committees dealing with literacy and issues affecting children and women.

Schroeder is the author of two books: Champion of the Great American Family (Random House, 1989) and 24 Years of House Work...and the Place Is Still a Mess (Andrews McMeel, 1998). She is in the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.

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Douglas X. Patiño (Secretary)

Dr. Douglas X. Patiño joined Marguerite Casey Foundation Board of Directors in June of 2001, for which he currently chairs the Finance and Investment Committee and serves on the Governance Committee.

Dr. Patiño is Vice Chancellor Emeritus for the California State University system. He serves as Professor of Social Work, California State University, Los Angeles, and as president of The Patiño Group. Dr. Patiño serves on the Enterprise of the Americas Board, to which he was appointed by former president Bill Clinton. He also currently serves as Chair of the Board of The California Wellness Foundation and serves as a Trustee for the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. He previously served as Director of Arizona Department of Economic Security from 1983 to 1987, and as Secretary of the California Health and Welfare Agency.

Dr. Patiño was awarded the title of Emeritus for his outstanding contributions in advancing the California State University system, the largest senior university system in the United States. As one of the California system's four senior executives, Dr. Patiño was responsible for policies, procedures and development of all areas of university advancement. He also served as President of the California State University Foundation.

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William H. Foege (Secretary)

William H. Foege joined Marguerite Casey Foundation Board of Directors in June of 2001, for which he currently chairs the Governance Committee and serves on the Audit Committee.

An epidemiologist, Dr. Foege played a pivotal role in a successful campaign to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. Dr. Foege served as the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control from 1977-83. He attended Pacific Lutheran University, received his medical degree from the University of Washington, and his Master's in Public Health from Harvard University.

Dr. Foege is currently a member of the graduate faculty of the Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory University. He has championed child survival and development, injury prevention, population, preventive medicine, and public health leadership in the developing world.

Dr. Foege is the recipient of many awards, holds honorary degrees from numerous institutions, and was named a Fellow of the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 1997. In March of 2006, the William H. Foege Genome Sciences and Bioengineering Building was dedicated at the University of Washington in Seattle. In 2001, Dr. Foege was honored with the prestigious Albert and Mary Lasker Award for public service. He is the author of more than 125 professional publications.

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William C. Bell

William C. Bell became President and Chief Executive Officer of Casey Family Programs on January 1, 2006. Casey Family Programs is the largest national operating foundation with a mission to provide and improve—and ultimately to prevent the need for—foster care.

Prior to leading the foundation, Bell provided strategic direction to Casey Family Programs as its Executive Vice President of Child and Family Services in Casey’s nine field offices in Arizona, California, Idaho, Texas, and Washington. Bell provided leadership to staff working directly with young people from the public child-welfare system to settle them in safe and stable families through foster care, kinship care, family reunification, guardianship, and adoption.

Bell was elected to Marguerite Casey Foundation Board of Directors in April of 2006, for which he currently serves on the Audit Committee and the Communications and Advocacy Committee.

Career Highlights
Bell has nearly 30 years of experience in the human services field, mainly in the city of New York. Prior to joining Casey, he served two and a half years as commissioner of the New York City Administration for Children’s Services. There he managed child welfare services—including Child Protection, Foster Care, Child Abuse Prevention, Day Care, and Head Start—with a staff of more than 7,000 and a budget of about $2.4 billion.

From 1996 to 2002, Bell served as deputy commissioner of ACS’ Division of Child Protection. From 1994 to 1996, he served as deputy commissioner of Field Services and Contract Agency Case Management. In the early nineties, Bell was associate executive director for Miracle Makers, the largest minority-owned, not-for-profit child and family services organization in New York.

Selected public service and honors
Bell was an active member of the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, and is an active member of the Council on Social Work Education board of directors, and the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators.

His many awards and honors include the 2003 Betsey R. Rosenbaum Award for Excellence in Public Child Welfare Administration from the National Association for Public Child Welfare Administrators, the Leadership Recognition Award from the Black Administrators in Child Welfare, and the 2000 Child Welfare League of America Advocacy Merit Award for Outstanding Leadership in Children’s Services.

Bell earned his master’s degree in social work at Hunter College School of Social Work, where he is currently a doctoral candidate. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biology and Behavioral Science from Delta State University.

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Joan B. Poliak

Joan Poliak, M.S.W., A.C.S.W., was elected to the Casey Family Programs board of trustees in 1983 and is vice chair. She co-chairs the Direct Services committee. Poliak was elected to Marguerite Casey Foundation Board of Directors in April of 2004, for which she currently serves on the Communications and Advocacy Committee and the Governance Committee.

As a practicing social worker in public and private agencies, Poliak has worked with children and families for over 40 year, providing therapy, initiating parent education programs, training foster parents, and creating a multitude of pragmatic, real-time support and tools to children and families in need. From 1985 to 2000, Joan served as the director of Family Education and Support Services at Family Services in Seattle. Her departmental focus was in homeless children and families, children’s support services, outreach services, and preventive education.

As an advocate for children and family causes, Poliak has been active on national, state, and local boards dealing with children’s issues, including foster care, drug and alcohol abuse, daycare, education, and youth services. At the national level, she serves on the national board of the Child Welfare League of America. Locally, she is currently serving as a King County commissioner and board member for Children, Youth, and Families and a board member of Cornish College of the Arts. In 1987, Poliak was appointed by Governor Gardner as state chairman of the Washington State Council for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect and continued to serve until 1995. In 1993, she was named a winner of the Matrix Table, Women of Achievement Award.

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America Bracho, M.P.H., C.D.E.

America Bracho, a recognized expert in Latino health issues and public health, joined the Casey Family Programs board of trustees in January 2008. She is the executive director and founder of Latino Health Access, a community-based center working to provide health services and create healthy communities.

Located in Santa Ana, Calif., the center was started to assist and engage low-income members of the local Latino community, especially those with multiple needs. Dr. Bracho is a native of Venezuela, where she practiced medicine for several years before coming to the United States to receive training in public health from the University of Michigan.

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Lynn Huntley

Lynn Huntley was elected to the board of directors in April of 2008. She is currently the president of the Southern Education Foundation (SEF), which has been instrumental in setting a public policy agenda for education reform in the South. Previously, she served as Director of the Rights and Social Justice Program with The Ford Foundation.

Ms. Huntley began her distinguished career dedicated to human rights and social justice as a staff attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She later became general counsel to the New York City Commission on Human Rights and Georgia's 5th Congressional District Representative at the U.S. Department of Justice.

A published author and distinguished lecturer, she serves on the Boards of CARE USA, Grantmakers for Education and is an Advisory Member for the Education Commission of the States. Ms. Huntley graduated with honors from Barnard College and Columbia University Law School, where she was a member of the law review.

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David Villa

David Villa joined the board of directors in April of 2008. Currently he is the Chief Investment Officer for the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, overseeing the ninth largest state pension plan, with assets totaling $87 billion and approximately $6 billion in additional investment mandates. He has also held the same position for the State Board of Administration for Florida.

Previously, Mr. Villa was the Executive Director for UBS Global Asset Management/Brinson Partners, a world leader in the creation and management of complex institutional investment portfolios, with more than $383 billion in assets. He began his financial career in 1979 with Arthur Andersen and later with First Chicago.

He graduated from Princeton University in 1976 with a BA in Economics and from Stanford University in 1977 with a MA in Economics and Latin American Studies. He received his MBA in Finance and Accounting from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in 1979.

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Ruth W. Massinga (Founding Chair)

Ms. Massinga is recently retired as President and Chief Executive Officer of Casey Family Programs (CFP) and Chair of the Board for Marguerite Casey Foundation. Both are Seattle based, private foundations that are committed to supporting families, youth and children in reaching their full potential.

From 1983 to 1989, Massinga served as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Human Resources. She entered state government as the Executive Director of the Social Services Administration of that Department in 1979. For two years prior to that, she was the Deputy Director of the Child Development Associate Consortium in Washington, D.C. and, from 1972 to 1977, was Director of Berkeley Children's Services, a child care resource development and referral organization. She holds a Master's degree in Social Services from Boston University.

She is currently co-chair of the board of The Finance Project based in Washington D.C. and is a board member of the T.T. Minor New School, a public/private school reform project in Seattle. She is on the Policy Advisory Board on New Federalism of the Urban Institute and is a member of the National Research Council Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development. Ms. Massinga serves on the Advisory Council for the Civitas Initiative and was formerly on the Panel on Child Care Policy of the National Research Council.

From 1990 to 1999 she served as a board member and chair of the Family Resource Coalition; from 1989 to 1990 she was president of the American Public Welfare Association; and from 1988 to 1991 she was a Congressional appointee to the National Commission on Children. Ms. Massinga is the recipient of many awards and is the author of numerous publications.

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