The keynote speaker at CIC’s 2007 Foundation Conversation will be Gene Tempel, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. Named one of the 50 most influential leaders in the nonprofit sector by the NonProfit Times, Tempel has been at the center of many of the recent trends and reform movements in the foundation world. He will help focus the day’s discussions on the intersections between higher education and the foundations.

In addition, a seasoned group of senior foundation officers will serve as facilitators of the small breakout discussion groups that follow the keynote presentation: Daniel Fallon, program director of higher education, Carnegie Corporation of New York; Ilene Mack, program director, grants, William Randolph Hearst Foundations; Donna Heiland, vice president for programs, Teagle Foundation; and Eugene M. Tobin, program officer, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The final session will be a panel presentation and discussion about “How Internal and External Influences Come Together to Shape What Foundations Expect of the Institutions Receiving Their Grants.” The panelists will be Edward Jones, vice president, JPMorgan Chase Bank and Booth Ferris Foundation; Ryan LaHurd, president and executive director, James S. Kemper Foundation; and James E. Collins, treasurer, George I. Alden Trust.

The 2007 theme is “Foundations Debate Their Own Future: The Impact on Higher Education of Changing Assumptions about How Philanthropy Works.” The meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 9, 2007, at the Wharton Auditorium of TIAA-CREF on Third Avenue in New York City. It will begin at 8:15 a.m. and conclude early in the afternoon. Participation is limited to CIC member presidents and foundation representatives. More information is available here.