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Chief Operating Officer Executive Posted: October 27, 2025
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
USD 550k-650k / year
Posted on Oct 27, 2025
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About The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Founded in 1964 by David and Lucile Packard, the Packard Foundation is a family philanthropy dedicated to supporting leaders and organizations around the world working to invest in children and families, protect and restore the natural world, and create just and inclusive societies.
For more than six decades, the Foundation has advanced scientific innovation, championed reproductive health and rights, conserved and restored our natural world, and invested in the well-being of children and families. To achieve lasting change, we also strive to address root causes of longstanding problems, including building a thriving, resilient U.S. democracy; advancing racial justice in the United States and gender equity globally; and supporting a strong civil society around the globe.
Inclusive collaboration is the heart of our approach. We believe that actively listening to and learning from people with a wide range of views is the best way to create solutions that match the scale and urgency of the challenges we face. We are dedicated to supporting community-based solutions shaped by the knowledge and experience of the people whose lives are most affected and informed by data. We recognize that meaningful solutions require patience, urgency, and supporting the conditions for transformational change. We are committed to addressing complex issues over the long term while making tangible progress today.
OUR VISION: A just and equitable world where both people and nature flourish.
OUR MISSION: We work with people and communities to create enduring solutions for just societies and a healthy, resilient natural world.
OUR VALUES: Equity, Integrity, Belief in Individual Leadership, Thinking Big, Respect, and Effectiveness.
Position Summary
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation seeks a Chief Operating Officer (COO) to ensure that our values – shaped over more than six decades – are reflected in every aspect of our operations. Working closely with the CEO and serving on the Executive Team, the COO will be a strategic partner helping the Foundation achieve its mission through effective, values-driven management and organizational excellence. With an endowment of approximately $8.7 billion and annual grantmaking of $350-$450 million, the Packard Foundation is one of the largest private foundation in the United States, supporting nonprofits and initiatives around the world.
Rooted in the values that guided David and Lucile Packard – and inspired by the principles of “the HP Way” – the Foundation was built to evolve with a changing world. Today, the Packard Foundation continues to adapt, supporting its grantee partners as they navigate new challenges and opportunities. The COO plays a vital leadership role in this evolution, ensuring that Packard’s operations and strategy remain responsive to the needs of its grantee partners and the world they serve.
The COO serves as an officer of the Foundation and partner to the CEO, providing strategic leadership across organizational operations. This role offers executive oversight of finance and accounting, aligning planning, budgeting, audit, and compliance with the Foundation’s priorities. The COO also drives operational excellence by streamlining processes, reducing administrative burdens, and leading enterprise risk management from identification through mitigation.
Among the COO’s responsibilities is leading the Foundation’s commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions across its operations by 2040. The role also includes oversight of Packard’s LEED® Platinum-certified headquarters, designed to produce as much energy as it consumes each year – an embodiment of the Foundation’s values in action.
The COO also plays a key role in administering Packard’s Mission Investments (MI), including low-interest loans administered by the Foundation to partners. Finally, in coordination with the Director of Finance and Accounting: the COO plays a significant role in supporting the Chief Investment Officer to ensure Packard maximizes its assets to support its important work.
The COO will work closely with the Board’s Audit and Finance committees and serves as chair of the Employee Benefits Administrative Committee.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership and Management
- Serve as an officer of the Foundation and partner to the CEO, contributing to executive decision-making, organizational strategy and Board-level discussions
- Hire, manage, coach, and develop direct reports and senior leaders to ensure clarity of goals, accountability and performance excellence
- Foster cross-departmental collaboration, learning, and alignment to strengthen organizational effectiveness
- Model and reinforce the Foundation’s values and culture in all interactions and cultivate a positive, innovative, and feedback-rich team culture
Executive Oversight of Finance
- Lead the finance and accounting function, ensuring planning, budgeting, audit, and compliance align with organizational priorities
- Collaborate across functions to embed financial practices that support operational efficiency, transparency, and mission impact
- Partner with the Finance & Accounting Director and CEO to prepare and deliver Board and committee communications on financial and operational strategy
Operational Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Risk Management
- Oversee daily operations and business processes to ensure efficiency, consistency, and service excellence
- Identify and implement process improvements that streamline workflows and reduce administrative burden
- Lead institution-wide risk management efforts, including identification, assessment, and mitigation of risks
Grant Administration
- Provide executive oversight of the grants administration function to ensure the integrity, compliance, and efficiency of all grantmaking activities, maintaining equitable, transparent, and mission-aligned standard
- Oversee systems, policies, and procedures supporting the full grants lifecycle and ensure compliance with legal, tax, and regulatory requirements
- Oversee data governance practices related to grants, ensuring reliable reporting and insights that inform strategy, evaluation, and communications
Mission Investing
- Oversee the Mission Investing program, including pipeline development, portfolio management, and the risk and quality of the existing investment portfolio
- Collaboration with program teams to align investment opportunities with the Foundation’s strategic priorities
- Support external engagement and partnership-building within the impact investing community
Information Technology
- Oversee the Foundation’s IT strategy to ensure secure, reliable, and user-centered systems
- Oversee infrastructure, data management, cybersecurity, and technology services, ensuring business continuity and disaster recovery plans are in place and regularly tested
- Champion data and technology use to improve cross-functional decision-making and organizational efficiency
Facilities and Administrative Services
- Confer with the CEO, executive team and staff to coordinate and prioritize capital and process improvements, providing service enhancements to reduce unnecessary work and costs while maintaining Foundation standards
- Oversee the management of facilities and real estate, ensuring safe, sustainable, and well-maintained workplaces
Qualifications
Education
- MBA, CPA, or advanced degree preferred; other relevant credentials are a plus
Experience
- 15+ years of progressively responsible leadership in finance and operations; at least 8–10 years leading multi-disciplinary teams in complex organizations
- Experience in a foundation, non-profit, or mission-driven organization strongly preferred
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Deep commitment to the Foundation’s mission, vision, and values
- Proven success leading complex organizational operations and driving system-wide improvements
- Broad expertise across operations, grants management, finance, information technology and mission-related investments
- Strong strategic and analytical skills with the ability to align operational decisions with organizational priorities
- Exceptional leadership ability to develop, empower, and hold accountable a high-performing, cross-functional team
- Skilled communicator with outstanding written, verbal, and presentation abilities; able to foster collaboration and trust across all levels of the organization
- Recognized for sound judgment, adaptability, and the ability to navigate ambiguity and competing priorities with composure
- Creative, solutions-oriented thinker who constructively challenges the status quo to improve effectiveness and impact
Pivotal Experience & Expertise
Strategic Leadership
- Experience serving as a strategic partner to leadership of a complex organization. Ability to participate in strategic discussions with the CEO and other senior leaders of the organization and translate strategic priorities into effective, actionable operational plans.
Senior Operations, Finance, & Technology Experience
- Proven senior leadership experience overseeing key operational functions – such as finance, IT, facilities, workplace operations, grants administration and investments – for an organization of comparable scale, scope, and complexity. Brings excellent financial acumen, with the ability to think strategically about long-term financial planning and sustainability. A demonstrated record of providing strategic oversight and leadership in technology functions is highly desirable.
Stakeholder Engagement
- Demonstrates the ability to work effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, including the CEO, executive team, Board and board committees, and fosters strong cross-functional collaboration to ensure seamless organizational operations.
Team Leadership
- Proven ability to lead, develop, and inspire high-performing teams, and foster a culture of trust, collaboration, and continuous improvement. As a supervisor, committed to providing meaningful opportunities for professional growth and development. As a peer and colleague, known for contributing substantively to organizational discussions.
Culture Impact
Mission-Orientation
- Strong commitment and passion for the mission of the Foundation to create enduring solutions for just societies and a healthy, resilient natural world.
Agility and Innovation
- Proactively identifies opportunities for innovation to increase efficiency and impact. Inspires teams to adapt, innovate, and deliver results without losing sight of long-term goals. Navigates complexity and change with steadiness and compassion.
Integrity
- Always operates with the utmost integrity and professionalism. Strives for excellence in all that they do and upholds the highest standards of accountability and transparency.
Compensation and Benefits
The position is full-time. The salary range for this position is $550,000 – $650,000 annually. This salary range is an estimate, and the actual salary may vary based on various factors, including without limitation individual education, experience, tenure, certification, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data. Offers are based on the candidate’s years of experience and our practice of upholding salary equity within the foundation.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation offers excellent benefits for eligible employees. Current benefits include medical (HMO and HDHPs), dental and vision coverage; 15% employer contribution to employee retirement plan; life insurance, disability insurance, vacation, and sick leave; an adoption benefit; fertility benefit; a financial wellness program; health advocacy services, paid time off to volunteer for nonprofit organizations; matching grants for employee contributions to tax exempt organizations; commute assistance; and tuition assistance.
To Apply
Please submit all nominations, applications, and inquiries to PackardCOO@heidrick.com.
Hybrid Work Policy
The Packard Foundation’s current Hybrid Work Policy is that staff are expected to be in the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays each week.
Equal Employment Opportunity
The Foundation is an equal employment opportunity employer, which means we recruit, hire, assign, train, promote, compensate, provide benefits, discipline, and discharge (and all the other terms and conditions of employment) based on merit, qualifications, job requirements, and other legitimate business factors.