President
M. Christine DeVita joined The Wallace Foundation in 1987 and has been its president since 1989. Under her leadership, the foundation has evolved from a collection of small family funds into one of the nation’s 40 largest foundations with assets of more than $1 billion.
The foundation applies a unified strategy to all of its work, combining program, evaluation and communication expertise in an effort to deliver social benefits beyond the recipients of direct grants through the development and sharing of knowledge. Its work was profiled in Creative Philanthropy, by Helmut K. Anheier and Diana Leat.
DeVita has spoken about innovative philanthropic practices in venues including The Council on Foundations, Grantmakers for Education, The Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County, the New England Museum Association, Duke University and Bates College. She is chair of the board of directors of The Foundation Center and a member of the visiting committee of Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.
Born in New York, DeVita earned her B.A. degree magna cum laude from Queens College of the City University of New York and her J.D. degree cum laude from Fordham University School of Law where she was an editor of the Fordham Law Review. She is admitted to practice in New York and before the United States Supreme Court.