Hartford Foundation for Public Giving Welcomes Gillian Howell and Rev. Darrell Goodwin to Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the community foundation for Hartford and 28 surrounding communities, has announced that the Reverend Darrell Goodwin and Gillian Howell have been appointed to serve on the board. Howell began her term on the board in July and Goodwin will begin his term in January.

Howell is a 25-year Hartford resident and currently serves as the head of client advisory solutions at Foundation Source, the nation’s largest provider of foundation management services for private foundations. She leads teams of client management and philanthropic advisory specialists as they help individual, family, and corporate foundations achieve their charitable objectives with greater efficiency and effectiveness.

Howell has more than 30 years of executive and philanthropic management experience, previously, serving in philanthropic leadership roles for Bank of America. Her roles have included serving as managing director and philanthropic market executive for New England, heading up the Bank of America’s Charitable Gift Fund and serving as the national private philanthropy executive, a role in which she was a top-producing leader of the private philanthropic sales and relationship management team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. 

Howell’s commitment to the greater Hartford community also includes her services as treasurer on the Everyday Democracy board. She is also a longtime member of the board and past-President of the Trustees of the Colt Bequest Inc., which provides a residence and support for senior women in Hartford and surrounding areas of Connecticut.

Rev. Goodwin lives in Hartford and is the first Executive Conference Minister of the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ. As the first openly LGBT Black person to serve as in this role, Goodwin is a member of the United Church of Christ Board, the UCC Council for Health and Human Service Ministries, and the Pension Boards UCC Board of Directors.

Prior to his current role, Goodwin has served as an Associate Conference Minister for the Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota Conferences, and has served as Pastor and Founder of Liberation United Church of Christ in Seattle, Everett United Church of Christ, and Chaplain Intern at VA Puget Sound Health Systems. Before full-time ministry, he served in several leadership positions in Jesuit higher education. 

Goodwin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Human Development and Theology from Boston College; a Master of Education in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration from The University of Vermont; a Master of Arts in Transforming Spirituality from Seattle University; and is currently a doctoral candidate in San Francisco Theological Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry program.

“The board is excited to have Darrell and Gillian join the Hartford Foundation’s leadership team,” said Hartford Foundation Board Chair Andrew Worthington. “Their personal and professional backgrounds will bring new ideas and perspectives to our board and strengthen the entire organization.” 

The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving is the community foundation for Hartford and 28 surrounding towns. Through partnerships, the Foundation seeks to strengthen communities in Greater Hartford by putting philanthropy in action to dismantle structural racism and achieve equity in social and economic mobility. Made possible by the gifts of generous individuals, families and organizations, the Foundation has awarded grants of more than $998 million since its founding in 1925. For more information, visit www.hfpg.org or call 860-548-1888.