Sterling Speirn

Sterling Speirn is the Interim president & CEO of the Maine Community Foundation, and he also serves as a Trustee of the Greater Washington (DC) Community Foundation. Sterling was president & CEO of the Peninsula Community Foundation (now the Silicon Valley Community Foundation) from 1990-2005 where he founded the Center for Venture Philanthropy (CVP) and established the Peninsula Partnership for Children, Youth and Families. The CVP’s Assets for All Alliance created the largest Individual Development Account program in the country, matching the savings of working poor families as an asset-building strategy to escape poverty. Sterling also cofounded the Raising A Reader take-home book bag program as a supporting organization, where today he serves on the Board of Directors. From 2006-2013 Sterling was president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation where he collaborated with the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, in support of the First Five Years Fund and the Educare network. Under his leadership, in 2009 WKKF launched America Healing, a five-year $75 million initiative to promote racial healing and address racial inequity. Sterling began his career as a 7th and 8th grade English Teacher in Cleveland, Ohio, and later served in the U.S. Department of the Interior. He also worked as a Legal Aid lawyer in North Carolina, managed a large community health center in northern California, and managed the national computer grants program at Apple Computer. He graduated from Stanford University and the University of Michigan Law School.