Blue Ridge Foundation New York

Blue Ridge's team includes a small core group of People who engage daily with our grantees and a growing network of organizational Partners that provide specialized expertise as our portfolio requires.

John A. Griffin, Founder and Trustee	John is President of Blue Ridge Capital, an investment partnership that he founded in 1996. John began his career as a financial analyst for Morgan Stanley Merchant Banking Group before moving on to Tiger Management, where he became president in 1993. He is adjunct professor of finance at Columbia Business School and a visiting professor at the University of Virginia. John serves as the founding Board Chair of iMentor, board member of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and a member of the boards of trustees of the Animal Medical Center of New York, the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce and Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia. John received his MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and his BS in finance from the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce.
Matthew Klein Executive Director	Matthew Klein is the Executive Director and first staff person of Blue Ridge Foundation New York. Matt is also an adjunct professor at NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches courses on venture philanthropy and the nonprofit capital market. Matt's experience prior to Blue Ridge includes work in non-profit management and civil rights law. He helped co-found Leadership, Education, and Athletics in Partnership (LEAP), a Connecticut-based youth development agency, performed legal work with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and served as a law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for the Honorable Robert L. Carter, one of the principal litigating attorneys in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit. Matt currently serves on several boards, including Groundwork, Inc. (founding Chair), iMentor (founding member), Single Stop USA (founding President), The Yale Law School Executive Committee, and Campaign for Community Change. Matt has been a fellow of the Echoing Green Foundation and the Next Generation Leadership program of the Rockefeller Foundation, and he is a member of the bar in New York and Massachusetts. Matt attended the Boston Public Schools, Yale College and Yale Law School.
Meryl Schwartz Portfolio Manager	Meryl Schwartz is the portfolio manager at Blue Ridge Foundation New York. Before coming to Blue Ridge, she worked as a consultant to nonprofits, government agencies, and foundations in the areas of criminal and juvenile justice, high school reform, and youth development. Among many projects, Meryl was deeply involved in the creation of two small high schools-the School for Human Rights and Community Prep High School-which transitions youth released from prison and jail back to school. Her background in justice system reform and program design was sharpened in her 10 years with the Vera Institute of Justice, where she planned and managed programs dealing with juvenile justice, school safety, policing, child welfare, and immigration. Meryl created and led Vera's planning department, where she developed demonstration projects in partnership with government agencies. She began her career as a legal services lawyer representing individuals and groups in disputes concerning public benefits, immigration, HIV/AIDS, and family law. She has a J.D. from City University of New York at Queens College and a B.A. from State University of New York at Binghamton.
Marina Villela Director of Administration	Marina Villela is the Director of Administration at Blue Ridge Foundation New York. Before coming to Blue Ridge, Marina worked as the assistant to the office manager for a litigation group. Prior to that, she was a title specialist and notary for the timeshare company Fairfield (now Wyndham Resorts). Marina also has previous experience in the non-profit as an after-school mentor for the Salvation Army, providing tutoring services to first- through fifth-graders in the East New York section of Brooklyn. Marina is a native New Yorker and attended Brooklyn College where she studied Early Elementary Bi-Lingual Education and Spanish Literature.
Romaine Hinds Office Assistant
Ella Best Friend	Ella provides inspiration to the office by reminding us of her namesake, Ella Baker, and by doing lots of hand-licking and tail-wagging. Ella comes to the Blue Ridge team from Animal Care & Control of New York City (110th Street shelter), where she spent time after being picked up as a stray. Her background seems to be a pit-bull mix. She was probably born sometime in March, 2004.

Blue Ridge Foundation New York is partnering with a growing number of institutions to help us build the capacity of the nonprofits in our portfolio. To date, some of our major partners include:

Blue Ridge Capital is an investment partnership founded by John A. Griffin, founder of Blue Ridge Foundation New York. Many of the Blue Ridge Capital staff contribute their time and talent to the work of the Foundation. In addition, Blue Ridge Capital controllers work closely with Blue Ridge Foundation New York and our grantees on fiscal management issues.

Wellspring Consulting LLC offers premier management consulting services to the nonprofit community. Wellspring was launched in January 2002 by Christopher Keevil, who started the firm after a career as Partner at The Boston Consulting Group, a global management consultancy. With a presence in Boston and New Haven, the firm consults to a wide array of clients in different fields and of different sizes, primarily along the Northeast Corridor. Wellspring Consulting works with Blue Ridge Foundation New York to provide strategic management assistance to our portfolio organizations and help them integrate their goals, operating plans, and performance measures.

If you are interested in learning about how your company can partner with Blue Ridge Foundation New York to provide professional services to our portfolio, or if you are interested in volunteering your own professional services, please contact Matthew Klein, Executive Director.