Valhalla’s founding President, Amy Rodde, has decided to leave Valhalla at the end of June after nine years leading our philanthropy. Amy has built Valhalla Foundation from its inception into what it is today. We are truly sad that she is leaving, yet we are incredibly proud of the Valhalla Foundation that Amy has built and led, and we are asking for your help in sourcing Valhalla’s next great leader.
We first met Amy when she was a Partner at The Bridgespan Group in 2014. She led a Bridgespan team that advised us on our giving strategies and led sourcing and due diligence for us in our philanthropic areas of interest — before we had anyone on staff at Valhalla. With Amy as our tutor, we began our learning journey in philanthropy.
Four years later, in late 2018, we decided to build an organization dedicated to accelerating the impact of our philanthropy. We first needed a leader, and to our delight, Amy said she wanted to lead Valhalla! She was our dream hire.
Valhalla has meaningfully grown its impact over the last several years, which is a testament to Amy’s leadership and to the incredible leaders Amy has hired, coached, empowered, and inspired.
We are grateful that Amy will remain on Valhalla’s Succession Board.
Looking ahead, we remain fully committed to our philanthropic issue areas and strategies, and we remain in awe of the important work of our grantees. Our work will continue uninterrupted, and we are excited for what the wonderful Valhalla team can accomplish in the years ahead.
We are launching a search for a new President, and we have hired Jamie Hechinger of Russell Reynolds to run the search. This job description describes the role and the characteristics of the person we seek. Please share it in your networks, and let Jamie know the best prospective foundation leaders you’ve seen at [email protected].
With gratitude,
Scott Cook and Signe Ostby
Trustees of Valhalla Foundation