The Greater Washington Community Foundation is proud to announce the appointment of Seán Morris, Principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP, as the new Chair of its Board of Trustees.
As Chair, Morris will collaborate with President and CEO Tonia Wellons to lead the region’s largest public foundation with over $500 million in assets and $80 million in annual grants. As a regional foundation with a 50-year history of mobilizing philanthropic resources, The Community Foundation has invested more than $1.7 billion to build equitable, just, and thriving communities in the Greater Washington region.
In 2021, Seán co-chaired The Community Foundation’s strategic planning committee with Artis Hampshire-Cowan which explored ways to address the root causes of persistent inequities exacerbated by the pandemic and economic crisis. Recognizing that our region’s biggest challenges stem from economic injustice, The Community Foundation’s staff and Trustees developed a bold 10-year strategic vision to increase economic mobility and help close our region’s racial wealth gap. The plan outlined how The Community Foundation will provide strong leadership and mobilize resources to grow opportunity and secure prosperity for all who call this region home.
“Seán takes the helm of our Board at an exciting time for our Community Foundation. We are successfully executing against the strategic vision he helped shape by launching several new research-backed economic strategies aimed at helping more families build savings and secure their future,” said Tonia Wellons, President and CEO, Greater Washington Community Foundation. “At this critical juncture, Seán understands that it will take all of us working together to achieve this vision for economic justice and he is primed and ready to step up to the challenge.”
“It’s an honor to become the Chair of the Greater Washington Community Foundation to continue the incredible heritage of driving impact for those who are most in need. I look forward to what we will accomplish together for the Greater Washington area, by rolling up our sleeves and mobilizing ideas,” Seán contends.
Seán currently serves as Deloitte’s US Transformation Enablement leader, responsible for the integration of multiple firm-wide service delivery, technology, operating model, and talent model transformations, helping enable greater success with Deloitte’s clients and 170,000 US professionals.
Seán is a Deloitte Consulting LLP Principal with a twenty-five-year career driving industry leading client excellence, talent experience, new market development, and operational efficiency. The Greater Washington area has been home to Seán and his family for more than 30 years. Over this period, Seán has served on a number of not-for-profit Boards to help drive meaningful social and community impact. To this end, he is the recipient of Consulting Magazine’s® Excellence in Social & Community Investment Award.
A Tribute to Our Outgoing Board Chair, Richard Bynum
Seán succeeds Richard K. Bynum, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer for The PNC Financial Services Group, who has served as Board Chair since September 2022. Bynum is an accomplished executive with nearly 20 years of executive leadership experience. As chief corporate responsibility officer for The PNC Financial Services Group and a member of its Executive Committee, Bynum leads the PNC Foundation, Community Affairs, ESG practice, Community Development Banking, and Diversity and Inclusion.
During Richard’s tenure as Chair, he played a crucial leadership role as The Community Foundation embarked on an ambitious plan to create a more prosperous future for our region. This included supporting key aspects of the organization’s strategic growth leading into and beyond it’s 50th Anniversary including the launch of the $75 million, multiyear Together, We Prosper Campaign for Economic Justice. The capital campaign will support The Community Foundation’s work to increase economic mobility to close the region’s racial wealth gap and build sustainable funding to address community needs now and into the future.
We thank Richard for his tireless leadership and are excited to continue to work with him, as a member of our Board of Trustees.
Additional Changes to Our Board of Trustees
In addition to Seán, The Community Foundation announced Cliff White, Partner of SWaN Investors, as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors and David E. Shiffrin, as Secretary of the Board. Jill Landefeld was also announced as the new Chair of the Board of Trustee’s Investment Committee.
The Community Foundation would like to thank Lesley-Jane Dixon, who finished her service as a member of the Board of Trustees in September 2024. Lesley-Jane has served as a member of the Board of Trustees since 2019, serving as both Treasurer and Chair of the Board of Trustee’s Investment Committee.
The Community Foundation also welcomed Thomas Penny, President of Donohoe Hospitality, as the newest member of the Board of Trustees. Thomas Penny is the President of Donohoe Hospitality, one of the largest and most experienced hotel management companies in the Washington, DC region, overseeing more than $600 million in hotel asset value. In this role, he drives growth, innovation, and cultivates a supportive, inclusive company culture that promotes upward mobility and celebrates team members for achieving best-in-class results.
Penny is deeply committed to expanding the business while creating pathways for team members to advance into senior levels within the company. As a leading voice for diversity in hotel ownership and executive leadership, he champions the need for the boardroom to reflect the diversity of the break room.
By promoting internal team members and attracting new talent, Penny has built a dynamic team driven by entrepreneurship, collaboration, adaptability, empathy, creativity, and innovation, all aimed at achieving operational excellence and delivering superior results for our partners and stakeholders.
He also serves on numerous industry, education, and nonprofit boards, including the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), Hotel Association of Washington, DC (HAWDC), Livingstone College, Marriott-Sorenson Center for Hospitality Leadership at Howard University, and the National Academy Foundation (NAF), among others.
Finally, The Community Foundation welcomed Artis Hampshire-Cowan as a member of The Community Foundation’s Board Emerita. Artis has served on The Community Foundation’s Board of Trustees since 2015 and has been a tireless advocate for investing in the region — especially, within Prince George’s County.
Artis joins other esteemed members of our Emeritus Board, including Terry Beaty, Partner & Senior Advisor at Brown Advisory, Sterling Speirn, and Dan Mayers.
The Community Foundation would like to thank all of our Trustees for their dedication and commitment to working together to strengthen our organization and the region we all call home!