Sen Ted Kennedy

So much has been already said about Sen Kennedy that it seems almost an afterthought that I would even attempt to write about him. But I must. Sen Kennedy died this week, and we are in the midst of his funeral, documentaries, and news clips about his life, accomplishments, and more..

I deeply admired Sen. Kennedy.

I have had the great privilege in my life so far to meet and work with some great leaders and admirable people- both known and not-so-known. It is part of what I do, who I am.

I have met Presidents, Senators, Corporate CEOs, admirable grassroots leaders, wise elders. But I distinctly remember my first meeting with Senator Kennedy- at an event in Washington DC. He was about to be honored, and I was merely a participant at the dinner. He was sitting quietly, going over his notes, and I went up to him, which I don't often do, and I introduced myself to him. I told him where I came from, and how he had helped my family come to the US. I also told him how much admired his standing on so many issues I cared about- civil rights, immigration, poverty.. I recall my heart beating fast as we had a wonderful conversation and I shared with him that I had been born in Boston...

So many people came across Sen Kennedy's life over his decades in the Senate. We have all seen stories of his influence over the past week. The woman from the fishing community in MA who thanks him for his support. The immigrant from Cameroon whose tuition was covered after a call from the Senator. How Senator Kennedy was able to forge strong friendships with his colleagues across the isle.

His rousing words and strong standing on issues helped influence the lives of so many Americans. I had a chance to work with him many times after our initial meeting. And as I hear and watch many of our country's leaders talk about their deep affection for him, I know his legacy will remain strong.

Public Service, Being a champion for the underprivileged, Speaking out for others.

Being good stewards of our funds

I learned a new word today, from our Duke-educated, MBA-degreed, smart CFO, Ken: cataclysmic. He was talking about the economy over the past year and we were in the middle of our Finance Committee meeting. Now, this is not the kind of word you want to hear from your CFO during such a meeting, but, in our case, it was OK. We're lucky and blessed. For many reasons. One reason is that we have such an engaged and qualified group of folks who make up our Finance Committee. And once again, after our gathering today, I came away feeling very grateful to have them serve at the Foundation in this role.

See for yourself, below. Blas, Frank and Phail- pouring over our numbers.

Our results are encouraging. As we ended this fiscal year, the foundation has fared well. We made more grants this year than any other in our 25-year history- $15 million, $1 million more than the previous fiscal year. That's something we are proud of, and something that is especially important during these times.

Our assets, which took a hit earlier this year, are finally coming back up. We were, at the end of FY '09 (June 30) at $119.1 (an 8.7% increase from March 31). And our new investment strategy seems to be gaining ground for us.

This takes a lot of oversight, a solid strategy, lots of volunteer time from board and committee members, and long hours at the office. But it's what we do, and it's our everyday work. So thank you to our Finance, Investment, Executive and Board members, for keeping us solid and strong.

It's always uplifting to thank and be thanked for good work done. Today, we ended our Finance meeting thanking Chuck Leedy, a long time member of our Finance committee, who now CoChairs Investments, and is one of our newer Board members. See the video, below. Thanks, Chuck! You're one of the reasons why, when I hear a word like cataclysmic, I don't have to jump out of my seat...