Richard Greenwald

Richard Greenwald is a Senior Executive with more than twenty-five years of national experience leading large municipal initiatives and nonprofit social services organizations. Committed to public/private entrepreneurial solutions that affect the nation’s most vulnerable. Mr. Greenwald has an outstanding track-record leading varied, large scale initiatives of increased prominence and complexity. He has specific expertise successfully assessing and navigating complex business and organizational environments; leading, convening, and managing multiple stakeholder groups aligned to common strategic goals; refining systems and implementing responsive adjustments; and following-up with staff and partners to guarantee success.

In June of 2017, Mr. Greenwald became the President & CEO of the Soulsville Foundation. The Soulsville Foundation Campus is located at the original site of Stax Records in Memphis. The Soulsville Foundation operates the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Stax Music Academy, and The Soulsville Charter School. The museum hosts over 60,000 visitors annually, while the academy and school serve 800 children through its grades 6-12 school and after school/summer programming. Mr. Greenwald leads a collective effort of 100 staff at Soulsville deeply committed to community development, fostering the arts, providing educational opportunities, and supporting youth and families… all while promoting and utilizing the music and heritage of Soulsville, USA.

Prior to joining Soulsville, Mr. Greenwald completed his three-year term in Philadelphia as Executive Director and Assistant to Mayor Michael A. Nutter for Youth Violence Prevention, through a Stoneleigh Foundation Fellowship. In this role, Mr. Greenwald led a multi-disciplinary collaborative of city leaders and private funders to develop and advance a connected youth violence prevention strategy for the City of Philadelphia. Mr. Greenwald oversaw this progressive plan’s implementation, refinement, and evaluation - aiming to transform how city agencies worked together to prevent violence. Mr. Greenwald served as the lead liaison between the City of Philadelphia and the United States Department of Justice’s National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention.

Mr. Greenwald’s varied and accomplished career included roles as Vice President for Program Effectiveness at Public/Private Ventures (P/PV), as a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and as a loaned executive to Newark Mayor, Cory A. Booker. In 1998 Mr. Greenwald was recruited to come to Philadelphia to be the first President and Chief Executive Officer of the Transitional Work Corporation (TWC). Under Greenwald’s eight- year leadership, TWC grew four-fold, employed more than 14,000 welfare recipients, and participated in a rigorous Department of Health and Human Services evaluation. Before starting-up TWC, Mr. Greenwald served as Vice President at America Works in New York City, worked at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and spent two-years on Capitol Hill working for Senator Albert Gore, Jr.

Greenwald is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, sharing expertise in fundraising, strategic planning, performance management, evaluation, public speaking, advocacy, and has lectured abroad on strategic management in the public sector. He is comfortable approaching these topics as a change-agent within city government, working on state level initiatives, or as part of federal policy and practice.

Mr. Greenwald is at work as an Executive Producer for the film Courting the Dream™. He also serves on numerous national boards and advisory committees including as a board member of the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color (COSEBOC) based in Boston, Massachusetts; a founding member of the National Transitional Jobs Network, Chicago, Illinois; is a longstanding board member at RecycleForce, Inc. in Indianapolis, Indiana; and was engaged in various civic organizations in Philadelphia over the last decade.

A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Mr. Greenwald holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction in Sociology from Connecticut College; and a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration from Columbia University.