Former Casey CEO Doug Nelson Honored for Leadership

As part of its 25-year anniver­sary cel­e­bra­tion, Liv­ing Cities recent­ly rec­og­nized lead­ers work­ing to elim­i­nate racial dis­par­i­ty and empow­er oth­ers to break down racial barriers.

Among hon­orees was Doug W. Nel­son, for­mer pres­i­dent and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion. Now retired, Nel­son spent 20 years at the helm of the Foun­da­tion address­ing per­sis­tent issues that Amer­i­can chil­dren, fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties faced. Dur­ing his exten­sive career, Nel­son over­saw the begin­ning of projects such as KIDS COUNT and the Juve­nile Deten­tion Alter­na­tives Ini­tia­tive and was devot­ed to devel­op­ing a brighter future for all kids. Under his lead­er­ship, the Foun­da­tion relo­cat­ed to Bal­ti­more and began to focus on the impor­tance of data and evi­dence-based prac­tice to improv­ing out­comes for chil­dren and youth.

Nel­son was select­ed from more than 300 nom­i­nees to be includ­ed in Liv­ing Cities’ 25 Dis­rup­tive Lead­ers List, which also includ­ed activists, gov­ern­ment employ­ees, artists, entre­pre­neurs and more. All indi­vid­u­als were praised by Ben Hecht, pres­i­dent and CEO of Liv­ing Cities, for ​“shak­ing up the sta­tus quo and cre­at­ing new approach­es to address our nation’s most stub­born chal­lenges.” Despite unique back­grounds and per­spec­tives, the final lead­ers cho­sen for the list have shown deep com­mit­ment to devel­op­ing equi­ty for all citizens.

Found­ed in 1991, Liv­ing Cities uti­lizes the col­lec­tive pow­er of 18 of the world’s largest foun­da­tions and finan­cial insti­tu­tions. By doing so, Liv­ing Cities can cre­ate oppor­tu­ni­ty and solu­tions that improve the eco­nom­ic well-being of mem­bers of low-income areas in cities across the nation quick­ly and effectively.