Celebrating Leadership and Trish’s New Role

At Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, we know that forging strong and trusting relationships is what enables us to do our work effectively and also makes the experience much richer. Today, I’m writing to share an update that marks the beginning of a new journey for us and our community.

After eight years with the foundation, Lisa Pilar Cowan will transition from the role of Vice President at the end of this week. Much of what we do today as a foundation was initiated by Lisa, who has served as an architect in shaping our programmatic focus and grantmaking on equitable leadership development in New York City. Because of her insight and tenacity, our work has evolved into something more than I ever imagined it could be. Lisa has provided strategic clarity and thought partnership to me and our team, and the end of her tenure is a milestone moment for the foundation.

Looking ahead, it is my pleasure to recognize the invaluable contributions of Trish Adobea Tchume, our Senior Director of Leadership Research and Practice who has been promoted to Vice President, starting June 1st. Since 2020, Trish has been instrumental in translating the foundation’s trust-based values into the frameworks and liberatory practices that now guide our internal learning and our external collaborations. She has added breadth and depth to the work we do, and will steward the next phase of our practice in partnership with our grantees.

I am also happy to share that one of our long-term advisors, Ericka Stallings, will be joining the foundation as its Senior Director, starting September 1st. As the Senior Director, Ericka will serve in a grantmaking role and support the cultivation of our Exploring Leadership program. Ericka has spent the last decade of her career thinking deeply about the relationship between equity and leadership, and she is a trusted and beloved colleague who has deep relationships with our partners. Most recently, Ericka served as Co-Executive Director of the Leadership Learning Community and Deputy Director for Capacity Building and Strategic Initiatives at the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development — two of our longstanding grantee partners. She was also one of the architects of the Liberatory Leadership Partnership, which she helped steward for the past five years.

Moments of change invite reflection, which is why we are sharing a conversation between Lisa and Trish below that captures what’s been created and the momentum of what is to come. We look forward to all that we will continue to build together — and welcome your questions and reflections.

Warmly,
Phil

Looking Back, Walking Forward: Reflections on a Leadership Transition

What impact has Lisa made in her role at the foundation?

Trish: I always think about Lisa as the person that makes things go. I used to spend a lot of time in San Francisco and my friends in tech would reference the “number two” — essentially they were referring to the people who were known to take an idea and figure out how to make that thing exist in the world in a way that was useful to other people. Many of the things that Robert Sterling Clark Foundation is known for — the Sterling Network, our learning community, our grantmaking approach, and our learning and evaluation — are things that could have remained just an idea if it weren’t for Lisa. She listened deeply for what we said we were going to do and held us accountable to doing it in ways that aligned with our values. She consistently pushed us to use our resources to be bold and impactful.

Why are you excited for Trish to step into the role as Vice President?

Lisa: Trish has an intuitive and aspirational vision of leadership development that is needed to advance equity. Her clarity of vision and understanding of how leadership development strategies can help us get to a truly democratic and just world is, frankly, unparalleled. She understands how to align every single part of the work with our end goal and purpose, and has changed how I see the work I need to do in this world.

What have you gained from working together?

Trish: One of the first things you are supposed to do as a coach for healing, justice, and liberation is to fall in love with the person you're coaching. It sounds dramatic, but it starts from the place of seeing the person as the highest, most whole and capable version of themselves. That is how Lisa interacted with me. She expected me to be smart, expected my ideas to be good, and expected that I would know the right thing to do. She started from the place of knowing what I was capable of, and then made sure that I was supported to do it.

Lisa: Imagination, friendship, and accountability all bloomed while working with Trish. It has been one of the most productive, clarifying, and exciting professional relationships that I have ever had. Trish is the person that tells you when you’re right and also tells you when you are wrong — and that is an amazing gift.

What do you wish for each other?

Trish: Being in a leadership role at a foundation was nowhere on my bingo card, but then I was invited to do that with Lisa and Phil. Under their leadership, we became bigger than our grantmaking portfolio and had a wider impact. During my time, I’ve watched Lisa use her position to call philanthropy colleagues into important conversations around how we could be moving differently and doing more with our resources. I'm really excited for her continued leadership out in the wider field and her continued calling in. I’m also excited for her to have more time to enjoy life, play, and wander the world again.

Lisa: Trish having a bigger platform in the Vice President role to share her thinking and wisdom is going to make the foundation even better. Actually, I think it's going to make the world of philanthropy better. Trish looks at everything more deeply and more carefully than almost anyone I know. Her intentionality and analysis can bring us to a place where we are able to show up in philanthropy as our best selves, and that will be a beautiful thing.