Ursula Burns breaks 90 year barrier at Ford Foundation
NEW YORK — Former Xerox chief executive Ursula Burns has been elected the first African American woman to chair the Ford Foundation’s board of trustees, breaking a leadership barrier in the philanthropic institution’s 90 year history. The appointment, announced on 23 June 2026, places her at the head of a board overseeing strategy, grantmaking policy and investments at a foundation that reported a $16 billion endowment.
Burns succeeds Francisco Cigarroa as the foundation’s 13th board chair. Cigarroa, who held the position for eight years, will remain a trustee through October 2026. Burns joined the board in 2015 and brought experience from its audit and executive committees to the succession.
Her election follows an earlier milestone in corporate America. Burns became the first African American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company when she took charge of Xerox in 2009. Her career at the company began in 1980 as a mechanical engineering intern, before she advanced through increasingly senior positions.
A founder of investment firm Integrum and chairwoman of advisory business Teneo, Burns will work with Ford Foundation president Heather Gerken. The board approves programme strategy and broad policies, giving the chair a governance role with implications for how the institution directs its resources.
That responsibility has relevance for African organisations supported by the foundation. Ford’s work in Southern Africa began in 1953, including fellowships, research documenting apartheid’s effects and support for initiatives debating the country’s future. Its regional agenda continues to address inequality linked to race, class and gender, alongside the rights of communities affected by natural resource development.
One example is the foundation’s February 2025 commitment of $5.7 million to a five year initiative supporting a just energy transition in Africa. The programme brings together civil society, labour, policymakers and other partners to address how the costs and benefits of changing energy systems are shared. Its stated priorities include protecting rights, supporting decent work and ensuring that historically excluded communities participate in decisions affecting them.
Burns’s election did not come with an announcement of new African funding or revised grant criteria. For organisations working with the foundation, any change in support will therefore depend on subsequent programme and funding decisions, rather than the leadership appointment alone.
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