Kerri Forrest Joins MDC as new Senior Program Director for Equity Centered Leadership and Philanthropy

We’re pleased to announce that Kerri Forrest will be joining MDC on July 18th as the Senior Program Director for Equity Centered Leadership and Philanthropy. She brings more than a decade of experience in the non-profit and philanthropic fields including strategy development, strategic partnerships, governance, mentorship, and communications. She returned to her hometown of Charleston, SC after a 16-year journalism career with national broadcast outlets MSNBC, NBC NEWS, and CBS NEWS.

Kerri joins MDC after 7 ½ years as the Lowcountry Program Director for the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation. There she managed all grantmaking, communications, advocacy, and partnerships for the Foundation’s three program areas in coastal South Carolina: land conservation, artistic vitality, and broadening regional narratives.

In this new role at MDC, Kerri will advance MDC’s equity centered leadership work to develop collaborative, human-focused solutions to achieve systemic equity and build community. She will lead three significant initiatives to further this work—MDC’s signature Passing Gear Philanthropy strategy, Investing in Leaders of Color (ILOC) and MDC’s fellowship program (including the Autry Fellowship and the newly-established Emerging Leaders Fellowship, in partnership with Oak Foundation).

Kerri holds a BA in Biological Sciences from Clemson University and a MA in Interactive Journalism from American University. She is a Furman University DLI Riley Fellow and a Liberty Fellow, a program in the Aspen Global Leadership Network dedicated to moving South Carolina forward. She currently serves on the boards of the South Carolina Women’s Rights & Empowerment Network (WREN) and the Liberty Fellowship and is a member of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Strategic Thinking Group (STG), a group of business leaders dedicated to the advancement of economic prosperity for sustainable African American business and talent.

Please join us in welcoming this dynamic communicator, connector, and mentor to the MDC team!