Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Names Leisle Lin and William B. Petersen as New Senior Vice Presidents

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is pleased to announce the promotion of Leisle Lin to the position of Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations and William B. Petersen to the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer.

Leisle LinLeisle Lin joined the Sloan Foundation in 2010 as Vice President for Finance and Board Secretary, where she serves as the Foundation’s chief financial and compliance officer, chairs the Operations Management Committee and Proxy Voting Committee, and oversees relations with the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. Prior to joining the Sloan Foundation, Lin was the Executive Vice President of the Nathan Cummings Foundation (2005-2010) and before that held numerous positions in corporate and nonprofit finance and management, working for Arthur Anderson & Company, as a Senior Treasury Analyst with Beatrice Company, and as Regional Director for Operations for the Trust of Public Land. Lin is also Treasurer, Finance Chair, and Trustee of Philanthropy New York and serves on the Board of the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and an M.S. in Accounting from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

William PetersenWilliam B. Petersen joined the Sloan Foundation in 1998 as Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, where he has managed the Foundation’s endowment, diversifying it from a traditional portfolio of stocks and bonds to an array of funds that encompass significant investments in long-term strategies including independent return and private equity. During his tenure, Foundation assets have grown from $1.17 billion to $1.7 billion, consistently performing in the top quartile of endowments and foundations in the Cambridge universe. Prior to coming to Sloan, Petersen worked as an equity portfolio manager for J.P. Morgan Investment Management, as Managing Director of Equity Investment at Marinvest Inc., and as a Vice President at the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York. He is a Director for the BWE Fund at Bessemer Trust and a Trustee of the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Petersen holds a B.S. in Business from the University of Colorado, and an M.B.A. in Marketing and Finance from Indiana University. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

“Leisle and Bill are making invaluable contributions to the management and governance of the Foundation and its endowment,” said Dr. Paul L. Joskow, President of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “Their promotion is well-deserved recognition of their service to the Foundation and the vital role they play in advancing our mission.”