Valerie S. Lies, President and CEO

Valerie S. Lies was appointed President and CEO of Donors Forum, a membership association that promotes philanthropy and a strong nonprofit sector in Illinois, in 1987. Prior to that, she was Vice President for five years of the Public Education Fund, a national grantmaking foundation in Pittsburgh.  She started her career in philanthropy at the Otto Bremer Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1974 as a Program Associate and became its Executive Director in 1977, a position she held until December 1981.

Ms. Lies has served as a board member of the Minnesota Council on Foundations, Women and Philanthropy, the Council on Foundations, Independent Sector, WINGS (Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support), and National Center for Family Philanthropy.  She was a member of the national Panel on the Nonprofit Sector, and in 2005 she co-chaired the Panel's Government Oversight and Self-Regulation Work Group. 

The founding chair of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, Ms. Lies is currently on the board of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) as well as the Diversity in Philanthropy Project. She is co-chair of the Illinois Attorney General's Charitable Advisory Council and as of 2010 she is a member of the Governor’s Commission on Human Services. 

Ms. Lies has received numerous awards and honors, including being named by The Nonprofit Times as one of the sector’s “Top 50 Power and Influence Leaders” in the United States.