President, Surdna Foundation
Phillip Henderson is president of the Surdna Foundation. Under his leadership, the Foundation has reshaped its programs based on its mission to foster just and sustainable communities in the United States. Prior to his appointment at Surdna, Henderson was vice president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), overseeing the day-to-day operations of the organization and providing strategic guidance to staff and programs. Henderson joined GMF in 1998 as a program officer responsible for grantmaking in economics. He later worked on special projects promoting civil society development in Central and Eastern Europe, including serving as chairman of the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, establishing the Belgrade-based Balkan Trust for Democracy and the Bucharest-based Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation.
Before his time at GMF, Henderson lived in Eastern Europe, where he worked with the Civic Education Project, a nonprofit specializing in higher education reform in Central and Eastern Europe. While with the organization, he served as a visiting economics lecturer at the University of Timisoara in Romania, country director for the Civic Education Project in Romania, and Director of the Civic Education Project’s Central and East European programs while based in Prague and Budapest. Henderson serves as chairman of the Romanian American Foundation, and he also serves on the boards of BoardSource, Living Cities, the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College, and International House. He holds an M.A. in Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a B.A. in Economics from Michigan State University.