Neal Cuthbert of The McKnight Foundation to Retire this Year

In an email sent to colleagues this morning, The McKnight Foundation president Kate Wolford announced that Neal Cuthbert will retire from his position as vice president of program at the end of the year. Cuthbert served on the board of Grantmakers in the Arts from 1999 to 2003. The following letter is republished here with permission from The McKnight Foundation.

Dear colleague,

It is with mixed emotions that I inform you Neal Cuthbert will be retiring from his position as McKnight’s vice president of program. After more than 25 years at the Foundation, Neal will complete his service at the end of the year.

McKnight will be losing a wonderful colleague and accomplished leader who dedicated himself to making our philanthropic work more impactful. After working closely with Neal for nearly a decade, I know I will miss his integrity, his intellect, and his sense of humor.

Neal has been vice president of program since 2005, providing leadership and management for McKnight’s program-related activities. As vice president, he wrote the Foundation’s first evaluation framework; developed and nurtured new intermediary funders, including Youthprise and the Southeast Asia Development Program; and directly managed our grantmaking to the Minnesota Initiative Foundations and our close partnership with rural communities.

He joined McKnight in 1991 as the Foundation's first arts program officer and was named program director in 2000. Previously, he was director and publisher of the monthly art and culture journal Artpaper and a planner at the Metropolitan Council in both its arts and housing programs.

We’re grateful to have the rest of the year to plan an orderly transition and will post more information on the recruitment process for his successor on our web site in the next few weeks. Until his departure, Neal will maintain all of his usual responsibilities and remain fully engaged in all aspects of the Foundation’s ongoing planning and implementation.

We thank him for his continuing service to advance the Foundation’s mission to improve the lives of people in our home state and around the world.

Sincerely,

Kate Wolford

President

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The McKnight Foundation

710 South Second Street, Suite 400

Minneapolis, MN 55401

T. 612-333-4220 | F. 612-332-3833

www.mcknight.org