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Grand Rapids, Michigan
San Francisco, California
Detroit, Michigan
Columbus, Ohio
Battle Creek, Michigan
Plano, Texas
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Kansas City, Kansas
In January 2024, Dr. Khan Nedd of Grand Rapids, Michian, succeeded Dr. Cathann Kress of Columbus, Ohio, as chair of the board of trustees.
Dr. Nedd has been a member of the foundation’s board of trustees since 2016. He also serves as the chief executive officer of Answer Health, president and medical director of Infusion Associates and a board-certified internist. As such, he brings to his role a deep reservoir of knowledge about the needs of children, families and community in the area of health equity, as well as a deep-seeded commitment to children’s overall thriving.
He also serves on the boards of directors for Hope Network, Grand Rapids African American Health Institute, Key Green Solutions, Hospice of Michigan and Spectrum Human Medicine.
Dr. Cathann Kress, board member
From her letter as board chair for the 2023 annual snapshot
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is governed by a board of trustees that includes the foundation president and CEO. We elect our trustees from a variety of backgrounds, professional disciplines and geographic regions, ensuring that WKKF’s home state of Michigan is represented. Each trustee brings wisdom, insight, diverse perspectives and a wealth of experience to the boardroom. The board’s shared dedication to our mission and strong commitment to honoring our donor’s intent is essential to the successful governance of the foundation. Trustees meet monthly with one meeting each year reserved for strengthening governance practice and another reserved for site visits in the field. During site visits, trustees meet with community members, grantees, government and business leaders and other partners. The visits familiarize trustees with the challenges and opportunities facing the communities that are the focus of our grantmaking. The board governs in accordance with the foundation bylaws, committee charters, policies and a written code of ethics. Each document guides the foundation strategically, facilitating the successful pursuit of our mission to propel vulnerable children to success in school, work and life.
The board of trustees elects the president and CEO to execute a mutually articulated and agreed upon strategy for the foundation. The president and CEO, in turn, works closely with an executive council composed of senior staff to implement policy, support oversight and evaluation, and execute strategic direction through grantmaking, communications and related activities. In addition, the president and CEO actively shares and applies the foundation’s institutional skills and knowledge externally. Through continual conversation with business, government, community and philanthropic leaders, policymakers, grantees, researchers and others, the president and CEO identifies opportunities to further the foundation’s goals, and oversees direction of foundation personnel in pursuit of those opportunities.
As fiduciaries, the board provides oversight to all aspects of the foundation’s activities. To provide program oversight, trustees engage in ongoing reviews of grantmaking, and ongoing evaluation of the impact made by the foundation’s work and grants. The board provides fiscal and legal oversight via the work of its five standing committees: the audit committee, the board development committee, the budget committee, the CEO compensation committee and the finance committee. The board chair appoints committee members annually in consultation with the president.