Interview with new Board Chair Graham Grady

August 27, 2025

The Fry Foundation is pleased to share the news that Graham Grady will step into the role of Board Chair. We sat down with Graham to get his thoughts on this new role.

Congratulations on your advancement to the Fry Foundation board chair. You have been a member of the board since 2008. Can you reflect a bit about your experience working with the Foundation?

Graham: First, thank you for this opportunity to talk about the Fry Foundation. And really – the Foundation is just a great community. We have a solid team on the board and in our program and operations staff. Everyone is extremely knowledgeable and capable. We are very fortunate to have Sherly Chavarria leading our Education program. She has deep experience with Chicago Public Schools and is also on the Illinois State Board of Education. Senior program officer for Arts Learning, Joe Panganiban, is great and is really flying high right now. Our arts funding is a place the board can lead with our hearts. Our newest program officer is Gabrielle Carverl-McNeal. She is not only leading the Employment program, she also manages the Community Violence Intervention initiative which is very close to my heart and am personally very proud of. And our operations team – Carrie Roche, Olivia May and Merril Prager are all amazing.

Of course, there is our President Unmi Song. There is a story about when she interviewed for the job. She told the hiring committee that her priority was bringing clarity to our work, and I believe she has done exactly that.

And the Fry Foundation board members are wonderful colleagues. They are so supportive of each other and the work. Amina Dickerson, Chip Fry and Scott McCue all served as board chair, so they have deep understanding of the “hows and whys” of the Foundation. Stephanie Pace Marshall is a great thinker and is an important leader in her own right. She asks amazing questions. Librada Killian is our newest board member. She has both financial acumen and a depth of non-profit experience, and represents the Foundation’s future board leadership.

There are some big changes on the horizon for the Fry Foundation. President Unmi Song will be stepping down after 22 years of service. Given your experience—17 years on the board— how are you thinking about approaching this leadership transition and your new set of responsibilities?

Graham: If you had asked me this question a year ago, I might have said – it won’t be easy peasy – but it will be fine. But at our recent board meeting, Unmi was explaining the arc of work around a certain project, and I was thinking – oh boy – after 22 years – Unmi is retiring! We are going to really miss her insight and the level of historical knowledge. She brought us that clarity along with a discipline that will be very hard to replace. Change is hard because we are all comfortable with what we have, but change can also be good. Whoever we bring on will have their own strengths and weaknesses and different characteristics and I’m very optimistic that we’re ready to move to the next stage of the work.

Saying all of that – I do feel a heavy sense of responsibility taking on this new role.

But in terms of leadership, I believe listening will be the key. I also really want to be an informed facilitator to help others get where they want to go. I will be listening closely to our program officers, to our grantee partners, and to the folks they serve. And we need to be paying close attention to the current environment and help everyone—staff and grantee partners—be successful in these new conditions which can be pretty disruptive to actual lives.

Can you say a little more about your view of the current political environment and how philanthropy can navigate this particular moment in time?

Graham: As a country, we are experiencing some destructive winds that may cause permanent damage to our country and the Chicago communities we care about. We all went through a similar level of disruption five years ago during the pandemic. In that moment, the Fry Foundation leaned in and gave our grantee partners lots of flexibility to use grant funds in ways they thought best and to respond to the needs of the moment. Because we already had longstanding experience and trusted relationships with our grantee partners, we had the confidence we needed to flex. I’m not suggesting we will make significantly different grantmaking decisions in response to what is happening now. But we will listen closely and do our best to maintain our values and support our grantee partners as they navigate new challenges.

You have been on the board since 2008. Can you share some of the more interesting things you have done as a board member of the Fry Foundation?

Graham: There are a couple of things I am particularly proud of. First there is our Community Violence Intervention (CVI) initiative. And I confess the Fry Foundation’s approach to launching this work was hard for me. I was very impatient to get started. Every day I was seeing headlines about violence and young people getting shot, with families experiencing so much pain and loss. I wanted the Foundation to move fast and act. But there is a saying, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” Staff did the necessary research and took time to find a place where the Foundation’s giving could be the most helpful and also be consistent with our mission and existing grantmaking. Now I think we have gone even farther than we might have had we rushed. So, I trust our process. In the CVI grantmaking, the Foundation has a sustainable initiative that I believe will be a lasting part of the Foundation’s funding strategy. There is still work to be done but Chicago is on a better path to addressing violence and I am attending really inspiring site visits with engaged and joyful young people who have choices and a safe path forward.

Second—and this is an example beyond grantmaking—I’m very proud of the Foundation’s commitment to hosting the annual Diverse Trustee Reception. When I joined the board, I was the first Black member of the board. So, other Fry Foundation board members encouraged me to meet with other Black philanthropic leaders to understand the role I could play. Obviously, it is unrealistic for one person to represent or speak for all Black communities, but I wanted advice on how to be most effective in my new role. I went out and listened to other leaders in the field. I realized we had a lot to learn from each other. Again, with support from Unmi and my fellow board members, we launched the annual Diverse Trustee Reception. We bring in prominent thinkers and leaders to share their expertise on issues of the day that impact the communities we serve. This year we are going discuss how changes at the federal level might impact philanthropy and the challenges and opportunities we have to respond.

Really, both these examples get back to how I hope to collaboratively lead and how I think the Fry Foundation community wants me to engage—by being a good listener, collaborator, facilitator and implementer of our shared vision and values.