With more than $400 million in assets, Northwest Area Foundation makes grants and investments in eight states in the country, including South Dakota. Kevin Walker, the foundation’s president, leads the organization’s efforts to champion programs that increase good jobs and increase financial capability for low-income people in the foundation’s service region.

Under his leadership, the foundation is developing and implementing strategic grant-making initiatives to encourage collaborative efforts and increased impact. He also is guiding the organization’s commitment to target 40 percent of its annual giving to Native-led organizations and advance efforts to increase mainstream philanthropy’s engagement with Indian Country.

Prior to joining Northwest Area Foundation, Kevin spent 13 years with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, including nine as director of Mott’s national anti-poverty program. His career in the nonprofit sector began in the early 1990s as associate director of Food Gatherers, a small, community-based nonprofit in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that state’s first perishable food rescue program. He serves on the board of the Minnesota Council on Foundations as immediate past chair, and as vice chair of the board of Philanthropy Northwest. He holds degrees from Harvard University and the University of Michigan.