The Rockefeller Foundation Names Erica Guyer as New General Counsel
NEW YORK | March 27, 2023 — The Rockefeller Foundation announced today that Erica Guyer has been named General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for the Foundation. Serving as Acting General Counsel since May 2022, The Rockefeller Foundation Board of Trustees recently confirmed Ms. Guyer for the role, which oversees and advises members on a broad range of legal, ethical, and governance matters.
“Erica is deeply committed to our mission, and her exemplary leadership has helped us launch several landmark initiatives,” said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. “I look forward to Erica’s guidance on Board deliberations and governance, and I am confident she will continue to succeed in overseeing our organization’s legal, ethics, and governance functions, leading our talented legal team, and being a valued teammate to all of us.”
Ms. Guyer joined The Rockefeller Foundation in 2011 as Associate General Counsel, before being promoted to Deputy General Counsel in 2018 and then to Acting General Counsel last year.
“I’m proud to be part of an institution with a century-plus track record of generating impact in service of humanity in the U.S. and around the world,” said Ms. Guyer. “It is a tremendous honor to join Dr. Shah’s senior leadership team at a time when the stakes are so high for vulnerable people around the world and when philanthropic capital, The Rockefeller Foundation’s convening power, and its experience deploying innovative solutions are needed now more than ever.”
Prior to her work at The Rockefeller Foundation, Ms. Guyer held Associate positions at law firms Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP and Withers worldwide in New York City, where she advised public charities and private foundations on a number of matters. She is a graduate of Brown University and received a M.A. from Arizona State University and J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. From 2004 to 2005, Ms. Guyer was also a Fulbright Scholar, the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program, where she studied human rights law affecting indigenous peoples in Canada through McGill University.
During her time at The Rockefeller Foundation, Ms. Guyer has played a pivotal role in ensuring the success of some of its biggest bets to date, which include efforts to
- Close the health inequity gap by modernizing public health systems through Precision Public Health in 2019 and then accelerate the Covid-19 response in communities across America and around the world.
- Rollout The Rockefeller Foundation’s billion-dollar, three-year commitment in 2020 to catalyze a more inclusive and sustainable recovery from the pandemic.
- Launch the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) at COP26 in 2021, where The Rockefeller Foundation pledged $500 million, the single largest investment in its $22 billion in giving since being founded in 1913.
- Guide the establishment of RF Catalytic Capital, Inc. (RFCC),the Foundation’s public charity, in 2020 as a new innovative tool to bring about transformational change.
- Facilitate the announcement of the Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA) at COP27 in 2022 with the U.S. Department of State and Bezos Earth Fund to drive more private capital into accelerating the transition from fossil fuel to clean power in developing countries.
- Shape efforts to widen the pathway to more equitable opportunity for America’s working families, while expanding access to school meals and laying the groundwork for nutritious foods to become a covered medical benefit in the United States.
- Invest $105 million into the Good Food Strategy in 2022, the Foundation’s largest investment in food and nutrition, which aims to increase access to healthy and sustainable foods for 40 million underserved people globally.