Private / Public Partnerships - Panelists

Kathy Merchant

The Greater Cincinnati Foundation – President and CEO

Kathryn E. Merchant is President/CEO of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation in 1997, Ms. Merchant was the director of The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Neighborhood Preservation Initiative and a partner in the New Haven-based consulting firm Holt, Wexler & Merchant. She has also served as director of planning for the United Way of Greater New Haven and as planner/grants manager for the South Central Connecticut Area Agency on Aging.

Ms. Merchant has served in leadership positions on a number of nonprofit boards of directors, including the Ohio Grantmakers Forum, SC Ministry Foundation, United Way of Greater New Haven and United Way of Connecticut. She also served on the boards of the Council on Foundations 2001-07 and the Community Foundations of America Board (Giving Net) 2000-2008. Current board service includes the Center for Effective Philanthropy, the National Center for Arts and Technology, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, CF Insights (Advisory), and the Metropolitan Club (chairman 2004). She is a graduate of Leadership Cincinnati Class XXI.

In 2005, Ms. Merchant received a Career Women of Achievement Award from the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati, the 2006 Ohio Philanthropy Award from the Ohio Grantmakers Forum, and in 2009 the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio – Great River Region’s Woman of Distinction. She is one of the “Top 50 Power & Influence” leaders selected in 2008 by The NonProfit Times.

Ms. Merchant has a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and a master’s degree from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work.

Overview: Cincinnati Workforce Network
Introduction to Career Pathways

Miriam Shark

Annie E. Casey Foundation – Associate Director

Miriam Shark is an Associate Director at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private philanthropy dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the United States. Ms. Shark manages the Philanthropic Partnerships initiative to deepen and diversify Casey’s relationships with philanthropies, philanthropists and philanthropic networks. She created and leads the initiative to Strengthen Rural Families, extending Casey’s reach to vulnerable children and families in rural communities. She was one of the architects of the Foundation’s family-strengthening agenda and established a variety of partnerships and award programs designed to promote family-strengthening and family economic success strategies.

Miriam serves as Vice Chair of Kids In Distressed Situations, a national nonprofit organization that facilitates donations to low-income families by manufacturers and retailers of children’s products.

Prior to joining the Foundation, she was a Director of the Massachusetts Rate Setting Commission and served as the director of a community-based mental health center.

Miriam holds an A.B. degree from Washington University, a Ph.D. in Clinical Child Psychology from St. Louis University and an M.P.A. from Harvard University. She resides in Baltimore City.

Closing the Gap: CHAPSS Pathway