Longtime civic leader Lee Pelton announced on Thursday that he will step down as president and CEO of The Boston Foundation after five years.
Pelton, also the former Emerson College president, said in an interview with GBH News that he will remain in his role through Aug. 31 and will continue working closely with the foundation’s Board and leadership team to “support a thoughtful and orderly transition for the institution and the communities we serve.” (Disclosure: Pelton serves on GBH’s Board of Trustees.)
He adds that he has actually been thinking about stepping down “for some time now.”
“These have been inspiring and challenging years for me. I mean challenging in the best sense of the word, because I love nothing more than a good challenge,” he said. “But now, it is time for me to begin creating greater space for Lee Pelton.”
Since joining the foundation in May 2021, Pelton has focused the organization’s mission on tackling deep economic inequalities across Greater Boston.
Pelton said he had always admired The Boston Foundation and its former leaders, which is part of what led him to take on the role of president and CEO.
“I’ve often said that I’ve been in training for this job my entire life because it represents values, ideas and problem solving that is fundamental to who I am and what I hope to be,” he said.
As the leader of The Boston Foundation, Pelton has prioritized equity while broadening the foundation’s work to include affordable initiatives and emergency assistance for vulnerable communities.
When reflecting on his time at the foundation, Pelton said their efforts to close the racial wealth gap stands out to him.
“I created a partnership around housing in order to increase wealth through home equity for new homeowners,” he said. “The way it was structured is that we would, through our own means, and through catalyzed and aligned dollars, would raise $25 million to put 700 individuals and families into homes.”
The foundation’s assets grew by nearly $1 billion to roughly $2.6 billion while annual resources into communities nearly doubled to more than $300 million.
“But I am most proud of what those numbers represent,” Pelton said. “They represent resources moving into communities, stronger partnerships, and the ability of a community foundation to listen, convene, fund, advocate, and act in service of a greater common good.”
Last year, Pelton launched The Boston Foundation’s Meeting the Moment Campaign, which has invested more than $9 million to provide food assistance and support to immigrant service providers.
With roughly three months left on the job, Pelton said he does not plan on slowing down.
“I will continue to be engaged in supporting TBF and its programs and supporting the city in any way that I can,” he said. “I will not stop, I will not slow down. That is not in my DNA, and so we will not skip a beat between now and when I step down at the end of the month in August.”
Regardless of how his next chapter takes shape, Pelton said he plans to remain civically engaged. He said his life “has revolved around ... solving problems, creating opportunities, improving lives and strengthening communities.”
“My next chapter will be a little bit more complicated, but I’m going to go ahead and involve all of those elements to the degree that I have some control over them,” he said.
Pelton said The Boston Foundation’s Board will begin a transition and search process over the next few months.
Before being named CEO at TBF, Pelton spent 10 years as president of Emerson College. It was there that he wrote his June 1, 2020 essay, “America is on Fire,” about the murder of George Floyd, which helped launch the Black Lives Matter movement in Boston.
