Kimberly O. Dennis

Kim Dennis is president and CEO of the Searle Freedom Trust, a grantmaking foundation established by the late Daniel C. Searle to support public policy research. She has served in this capacity since 1996. From 2001 through 2005 she also directed the National Research Initiative, a Searle-funded program of the American Enterprise Institute. From 1991 to 1996 Ms. Dennis was executive director of The Philanthropy Roundtable. Her previous experience includes more than five years with the John M. Olin Foundation. She has also held positions with nonprofit educational and policy-making organizations, including the Institute for Humane Studies and the Pacific Research Institute. Ms. Dennis began her career as a social worker in northern Maine and is a graduate of Bowdoin College.

Currently, Ms. Dennis serves as chairman of the board of Donors Trust and vice chairman of Donors Capital Fund. She is also a member of the Board of Visitors of George Mason University, a trustee of the Earhart Foundation, and a director of PERC, the Property and Environment Research Center. She serves on the selection committee for the William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership and the Manhattan Institute’s Hayek Book Prize. Previously, she served on the board of the W.H. Brady Foundation and was a member of the National Commission on Philanthropy and Civic Renewal