Baltimore, April 18, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation announced today that Margery Bronster, a lawyer and Hawai'i’s former attorney general, will join the Foundation’s Board of Directors, and Paula B. Pretlow, who has served as a trustee since 2018, will begin a three-year term as chair of the board, both effective June 23, 2023.
Bronster and Pretlow are stepping into roles currently held by Ambassador Fay Hartog-Levin (Ret.), who has served as a Foundation trustee since 2016 and as the board chair since 2020. Hartog-Levin’s term on the board will conclude June 23, 2023.
The Weinberg Foundation, one of the largest private charitable organizations in the United States, is dedicated to meeting the basic needs of people experiencing poverty. Its five-member board — which, in addition to Hartog-Levin and Pretlow, includes current trustees Gordon Berlin, Nimrod Goor, and Robert T. Kelly Jr. — is responsible for setting the policies that guide its investments and grantmaking. With assets of about $3.1 billion, the Foundation provides $150 million in grants and other activities each year.
“We look forward to bringing Margery’s expertise and perspective to the Foundation, and we congratulate Paula and welcome her leadership as chair as we continue to advance the Foundation’s mission and maximize its impact,” said Rachel Garbow Monroe, the Foundation’s president and CEO. “We are also deeply grateful to Fay for her contributions and commitment to the Foundation’s work throughout her tenure, including shepherding our pandemic- and emergency-response efforts and supporting strategic grantmaking.”
Bronster is an internationally and nationally recognized civil litigation attorney with extensive experience advising trusts and foundations on fiduciary duties. Before becoming a founding partner of Bronster Fujichaku Robbins (formerly Bronster Crabtree Hoshibata), she served as Hawai'i’s attorney general from 1995 to 1999. In that role, she showed steadfast leadership throughout a multiyear investigation into the Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate charitable trust, the largest private trust in the country, resulting in lasting improvements of its overall administration and selection process for board members to better serve the community. She also won a settlement agreement from tobacco companies amounting to more than a billion dollars for the state of Hawai'i that has led to decades of new statewide health care programs and improved health across the islands.
Bronster earned a bachelor’s from Brown University and a law degree from Columbia University, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. She is a recipient of the Profiles in Courage Award from the Conference of Western Attorneys General; Kelly-Wyman Award for Outstanding Attorney General from the National Association of Attorneys General; and Outstanding Women Lawyer Award from Hawai'i Women Lawyers.
“I am honored to have been selected as a trustee of the Weinberg Foundation and to represent Hawai'i, where the Foundation has an enduring commitment to improving the lives of people living in poverty,” Bronster said. “I look forward to helping with the Foundation’s efforts throughout the state and beyond in seeking ways to find greater access to health care, avoid hunger, and nurture life.”
Pretlow has extensive finance and investment management experience, building a career in helping company leaders maximize shareholder and stakeholder value. As a former senior vice president of Capital Group, a $2.2 trillion privately held investment management firm, she headed the firm’s public fund business development and client relationship group and was responsible for large client relationships.
Pretlow serves on a number of boards in the private, philanthropic, and nonprofit sector, including Williams-Sonoma, Vroom, The Kresge Foundation, Northwestern University, and her synagogue, Congregation Emanu-El, in San Francisco. She holds a bachelor’s in political science from Northwestern University and a Master of Business Administration in finance and economics from the university’s Kellogg School of Management.
“I am absolutely thrilled to assume the role of chair and look forward to continuing the tradition of partnership with our grantees and encouraging the exploration of new ways to deepen engagement with our partners and fellow funders,” Pretlow said. “As a Black Jewish woman, I recognize the weight of being the first to assume this type of role for one of the largest Jewish philanthropies. I welcome and honor it.”
“I have great confidence that Paula Pretlow will be an inspiring leader and that Margery Bronster, as our newest trustee, will contribute meaningfully to our work in Hawai'i,” Hartog-Levin said. “It has been extraordinarily rewarding to work with the Foundation and a privilege to meet and get to know leaders providing direct services where the need is greatest in our communities.”
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, one of the largest private charitable foundations in the United States, is dedicated to meeting the basic needs of people experiencing poverty. Each year, the Foundation provides about $150 million in grants and other activities to support nonprofits that provide direct services in the areas of Housing, Health, Jobs, Education, and Community Services. The Foundation’s priority communities include Baltimore, Chicago, Hawai'i, Israel, New York City, Northeastern Pennsylvania, and San Francisco. This includes supporting nonprofits serving federally designated rural areas within or near these communities. For more information, please visit www.hjweinbergfoundation.org.
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