Gerun Riley

As president of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, Gerun Riley is responsible for the investments and operations of the foundation, stewarding its groundbreaking institutions in education, science, and the arts while overseeing an active L.A.-focused grant portfolio. In addition to managing the Foundation’s grantmaking strategy and operations, she guides its values, culture and governance. Riley is also a member and vice-chair of the board of directors of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

With over 21 years of experience at the foundation, Riley has led a number of key initiatives including The Broad Prize for Urban Education, the architectural competition of The Broad museum, the spin-off of The Broad Center to the Yale School of Management and, most recently, the Broad Foundation’s Los Angeles-based grantmaking to expand educational and workforce opportunities for L.A.’s historically marginalized communities.

Riley works closely with major grantees seeded by the foundation, including the Broad Institute, BroadStage, The Broad Center, The Broad museum, the Broad stem cell research centers at UCLA, USC, and UC San Francisco, Great Public Schools Now, ExpandLA, and the L.A. Local News Initiative.

Prior to joining The Broad Foundation, Riley worked in the New York office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, where she coordinated the firm’s pro bono department and assisted a senior partner in representing mentally ill death row inmates in their appeals cases.

She has a degree in neuroscience from Bowdoin College where she was pre-med.