Terry Mazany

Chief Collaboration Officer, Collaboratory

Terry Mazany, Vice Chair of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights’ Board of Directors, is the chief collaboration officer at Collaborator, formerly known as the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. Prior to this post, he served as president and chief executive officer for The Chicago Community Trust. Formerly the Trust’s chief operating officer, director and senior program officer for the Education Initiative, he led the design and implementation of its initial $50 million, five-year commitment to improvement in Chicago schools.

Mazany previously served as the interim chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third-largest school district.

In response to the economic recession and an invitation from Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago, Mazany also helped organize and lead the Recovery Partnership involving over 50 foundations to support the distribution of over $1 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds in Chicago.

Mazany is a member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Council on Foundations. A member of the National Assessment Governing Board since 2012, he was named as its chair by former U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan in 2014. He served as past chair of its Community Foundation Leadership Team representing the nation’s 700 community foundations, and is a member of the Diversity in Philanthropy Project.

Mazany’s background also includes a distinguished career in public school administration, working in districts across the country including Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, Oakland, and San Francisco.

He received a Master’s in Anthropology and a Master’s in Business Administration, with an emphasis on organizational change, from the University of Arizona. Preceding his work in the public sector, Mazany enjoyed his first career as an archaeologist and dendrochronologist — using tree-ring chronologies to date human settlements and develop past climate records.