Leigh Bonney has joined the staff of The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust as its Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining the Trust, Bonney spent 15 years at Pfizer in senior positions in Strategy and Finance before retiring in early 2011. As Chief Financial Officer for Research and Development, she was responsible for developing and managing a $4 billion expense budget and $1 billion capital budget. Bonney managed merger planning and post-merger integration in Research and Development for Pfizer’s acquisitions of Warner-Lambert, Pharmacia, and Wyeth. She was also responsible for integrating smaller biotechnology acquisitions into Pfizer’s Research and Development operations. Prior to joining Pfizer, Bonney was a consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she worked closely with the senior management of multinational companies to develop strategic initiatives that promoted growth and productivity. She began her career as a banker at the Bank of Boston in Boston and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Most recently, Bonney served as Principal at Maple Rock Advisors, LLC, where she provided strategic advice to multinational corporations in the healthcare sector. She is also an independent board member for the Eliassen Group, a technology staffing and consulting services firm.
Bonney has a lifelong commitment to philanthropy and community service. She is the Vice Chair of The Nature Conservancy’s Trustee Council, which represents the trustees of all the Conservancy’s U.S. and international chapters, and she was the Chair of the Board of The Nature Conservancy of Connecticut and the Co-Chair of a national Finance Advisory Group for the Conservancy. She was the President of the Board of the Big Apple Circus, a nonprofit performing arts organization with extensive community programs. She was a board member of Phillips Exeter Academy for 14 years, serving as Chair of the Finance Committee and a member of the Executive Committee. She chaired the search committee for the 14th Principal of Exeter. She holds a B.A. from Yale University, an M.A. from Stanford University, and an M.B.A. from Harvard.