Kauffman Foundation Makes Three New Additions to Leadership Team

Posted March 11, 2024

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation announced the organization has added three new additions to its leadership team to lead program, research, and community engagement initiatives.

Allison Greenwood Bajracharya, Yvonne Owens Ferguson, Ph.D., and Gloria Jackson-Leathers will lead the Kauffman Foundation’s renewed approach to program strategy, according to a release.

Bajracharya joins as vice president of program strategy, effective April 15. She will oversee the strategies, results, and performance indicators for the Foundation’s programmatic grantmaking and initiatives, according to a release.

Allison Greenwood Bajracharya is the vice president of program strategy at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Photo credit: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Bajracharya, a fourth-generation Kansas Citian, brings more than 20 years of experience to her role. Most recently, she worked for the nonprofit America Achieves as chief strategy and communities officer in Los Angeles. She also served as chief operations and strategy officer for Camino Nuevo Charter Academy and began her career as a high school teacher.

She completed her undergraduate degree in environmental policy at Middlebury College and earned her Master of Public Policy from the University of Southern California.

Ferguson, a native Kansas Citian, joins the foundation as vice president of research, learning and evaluation, effective on March 28. She brings more than 15 years of experience in community-engaged research, program evaluations and strategic planning to her new role.

Dr. Yvonne Owens Ferguson is the vice president of research, learning and evaluation at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Photo credit: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Ferguson previously served at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. There, she led the $300 million NIH Common Fund Community Partnerships to Advance Science for Society program. That initiative fueled research for health equity by funding community organizations and pairing them with research partners.

She received her Ph.D., with a certificate in International Development conducting research in sub-Saharan Africa, and received her M.P.H. in Health Behavior, also from UNC-Chapel Hill. She completed her bachelor’s degree in biology from Spelman College in Atlanta.

Jackson-Leathers will work as senior advisor to the president for community engagement alongside Kauffman Foundation president and CEO Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace, according to the release.

Gloria Jackson-Leathers is the senior advisor to the president, community engagement at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Photo credit: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Jackson-Leathers brings more than 25 years at the Kauffman Foundation to this newly created role. She also brings years of banking experience to the role. Before joining the Kauffman Foundation, she as a bank examiner for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and as a community reinvestment act officer with Commerce Bank of Kansas City.

Jackson-Leathers holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration management from Park College and a master’s degree in public administration from the Bloch School of Public Administration at the University of Missouri Kansas City.

“Each leader brings a genuine approach to connecting with community needs, using an intentional mix of programs, funding, and feedback,” Burns-Wallace said in the release. “I’m excited to work alongside them as we build greater access to opportunity in our communities.”