The board of directors of Philabundance, the 35-year-old nonprofit dedicated to ending hunger in the Delaware Valley, has announced the selection of Loree D. Jones as chief executive officer, succeeding Glenn Bergman, who left the organization at the end of March after a successful tenure as executive director. Jones will begin her new position on June 2.
Jones, most recently the chief of staff to the chancellor of Rutgers University-Camden, has served in leadership positions in nonprofit organizations, education and city government throughout her career. Prior to her service at Rutgers, Jones was chief of external affairs for the School District of Philadelphia, coordinating strategic communications and governmental affairs for the nation’s eighth largest school district and managing advocacy efforts with external partners. She also served as managing director for the City of Philadelphia in the John Street administration, overseeing 16 operating departments and offices with close to 20,000 employees and a $3.2 billion operating budget.
Her extensive nonprofit experience includes serving as co-executive director of City Year Greater Philadelphia, an educational nonprofit that deploys young leaders for a year of service as tutors and mentors to public school students, and as executive director of the African Studies Association (ASA), the largest scholarly association for the study of Africa in the world. She currently serves on multiple nonprofit boards of directors, including the Philadelphia Health Partnership, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and the Independence Foundation.
“Philabundance has been a long-time leader in the fight against food insecurity for our region’s most vulnerable citizens. I’m honored to join this organization of passionate and talented professionals and its forward-looking board of directors,” Jones said. “We have both opportunities and challenges ahead of us, but we are uniquely positioned to garner growing support, partner with public and private organizations and continue to innovate while increasing our positive impact for those in need.”
Philabundance has long played a critical role in distributing food to those who have the greatest needs, delivering nearly 30 million pounds of food to help more than 700,000 people throughout nine counties in southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey who struggle with food insecurity. Many of those citizens were already facing hunger issues because of the region’s high poverty rate; that number has rapidly increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Philabundance has remained open throughout the pandemic, increasing its efforts to ensure that no one in our communities lacks access to food – especially healthy food that can improve wellness and quality of life.
Jones added: “We must address the immediate needs of Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey and prepare Philabundance to serve as a resource and partner during the post-COVID rebuilding period and in the years to come.”