Richard King Mellon Foundation taps Sam Reiman as its new day-to-day leader
Western Pennsylvania’s largest private grantmaking foundation will begin 2019 with a new day-to-day leader.
On Jan. 1, Sam Reiman will succeed Scott Izzo as director of the $2.5-billion Richard King Mellon Foundation, in line with a five-year transition plan, the foundation’s board of trustees said Friday in a statement.
Izzo, 66, joined the foundation 20 years ago and took the helm as director in 2005. He plans to remain on the foundation’s board and serve as a senior adviser to the organization, the board said.
Seward Prosser Mellon, the foundation’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement that the board is pleased to have Izzo’s “continued presence beyond this leadership transition” and fortunate that Reiman is “so well-prepared for his new role.”
Reiman, 40, a former senior program director at the McCune Foundation and program officer at The Forbes Funds, has worked alongside Izzo for the past four years as the R.K. Mellon Foundation’s associate director. Reiman earned a master’s degree in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University and a master’s degree in biotechnology from The Johns Hopkins University. He began his career as a consultant for Deloitte’s public sector practice.
As director of the R.K. Mellon Foundation, Reiman will oversee grantmaking, strategy and day-to-day operations.
“He (Reiman) possesses the knowledge and experience to advance the meaningful philanthropic work of helping to shape a productive, sustainable future for the people of our region,” Mellon said.
Izzo made total compensation of about $641,000 in 2016, the latest available IRS records show. Reiman made $275,000 the same year as associate director.
Headquartered at BNY Mellon Center on Grant Street in Downtown Pittsburgh, the R.K. Mellon Foundation is the largest foundation in the region and 36th largest in the United States. The foundation is approaching $2.6 billion in total assets. It doles out more than $100 million annually in grants across four key areas: conservation, economic development, education and human services.
Last year, the foundation made 159 grants totaling $116.3 million and another $122 million in commitments, including to organizations involved in public-private partnerships, with the goal to “enrich all facets of life in southwestern Pennsylvania.”
Among major efforts is the foundation’s partnership role in redeveloping the 178-acre Almono former mill site along the Monongahela River, a project now known as Hazelwood Green.
The region’s next biggest private foundation is The Heinz Endowments, which has about $1.7 billion in assets and doles out about $57 million in annual grants.
Natasha Lindstrom is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Natasha at 412-380-8514, nlindstrom@tribweb.com or via Twitter @NewsNatasha.
