Whoa! Stop the presses! Word just zoomed in that The Meadows Foundation President/CEO Linda Perryman Evans has announced that she will be retiring on December 31, 2019.
Since heading up the Foundation in 1996, she has overseen the organization’s providing 4,500 grants totaling $873M “touching 254 counties in Texas.”
According to Linda, “I have been incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to extend the vision set by my aunt and uncle to benefit and serve the people of their state of Texas, and for the privilege to work with three generations of Meadows family board members.
“Our board has undertaken significant major initiatives in public education, mental health and the environment. I am particularly proud that we established such acclaimed institutions as The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University in San Marcos, and The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk at The University of Texas at Austin.
“In addition, we have helped the Meadows School of the Arts and the Meadows Museum reach national and international recognition, supported the no-kill movement among animal welfare groups in Dallas and other cities, provided legal representation to undocumented families and children fleeing violence in their home countries, and helped communities rebuild after natural disasters such as Hurricane Harvey, wildfires and tornadoes.”
Besides her leadership at the Foundation, Linda also serves as secretary of Washington, D.C.-based Council on Foundations, is a trustee of Southwestern Medical Foundation and Safer Dallas Better Dallas and serves on the Meadows School of the Arts executive board and on the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University advisory board. Immediate past president of Charter 100, she is also a member of Dallas Assembly. Most recently Linda made news by becoming one of three women admitted to the used-to-be, all-male Salesmanship Club.
Linda’s track record, both personally and professionally, has earned accolades and awards including the “Junior League of Dallas’ Sustainer of the Year, TACA’s Silver Cup Award and Encomienda de la Orden de Isabel la Católica, one of Spain’s highest honors, for her efforts to enhance American and Spanish relations. She was named one of the top 50 most influential leaders in the philanthropic sector three times by NonProfit Times.”
Her post-retirement plans include remaining a trustee of the Foundation and assisting in the “transition to her successor when named from among a pool of highly qualified Meadows family members.”
She emphasized that her involvement in the world of philanthropy will continue by “placing a high priority on building on the historic successes The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute achieved on behalf of mental health services during the last legislative session and look forward to the 86th Texas Legislature beginning January 8, 2019, to enhance those critical mental health programs and funding.
“In addition, I am committed to finding ways for philanthropy to address the twin issues of decreasing levels of civic engagement and the rising levels of civil discord present in society today,”
Since its establishment in 1948 by the late Virginia and Algur H. Meadows, the Meadows Foundation has provided “$1.2 billion in grants and direct charitable expenditures to Texas institutions and agencies.”