Making an Impact - Panelists

Peter F. Bird, Jr.

The Frist Foundation, CEO

Pete Bird has served as chief executive officer of The Frist Foundation since 2002. He has been with the foundation since 1983, serving as senior program officer before assuming the top job.  Originally from Indianapolis, Bird hold undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and did post-graduate study at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.

In the 1970s, he was city editor of The Jackson Sun newspaper in West Tennessee before becoming business news editor of the Nashville Banner, where he worked from 1976 to 1981. He then served as senior vice president of Commerce Union Corporation (now Bank of America), where he handled strategic planning and communications, before joining The Frist Foundation.

Bird is a graduate of Leadership Nashville, serves on the boards of the Center for Nonprofit Management and The HCA Foundation, and is treasurer of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts Foundation. He is also the current chairman of the board of the Southeastern Council of Foundations, a regional association of grantmakers. He is a member of the Downtown Rotary Club and Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral. He and his wife Karen have two children.

George Espy

Ohio Grantmakers – President

Espy has been the president of Ohio Grantmakers Forum (OGF) since 2002. He served as director of OGF’s Northeast Ohio office for two years before assuming his present positions. Prior to his work with OGF, Mr. Espy was the executive director of Seventh Generation, a nonprofit environmental education organization.

Mr. Espy is an ordained Presbyterian minister and member of the Presbytery of Lake Erie, Presbyterian Church (USA). He served as pastor of three congregations in PA over a twenty-year period. He is a member of the board of the Forum of Regional Association of Grantmakers, the Attorney General’s Nonprofit Advisory Council, International Partners in Mission and the Center for Nonprofit Policy and Practice at Cleveland State University.

Mr. Espy holds a Bachelors of Art in history from the University of Pittsburgh and earned both Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, PA. He is married with three children and lives in Dublin, Ohio.

Leslie Maloney

The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile Jr., / U.S. Bank Foundation - Senior Vice President / Education Program Manager

Leslie Maloney is Senior Vice President and Education Program Manager of the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile Jr.,/U.S. Bank Foundation. The foundation was created to enhance the quality of life in the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky region, concentrating its efforts and resources in support of community development, arts and culture, education and human services.

Prior to holding this position, Maloney enjoyed a 27-year career in human resources, most recently as a consultant for Hewitt Associates.

Maloney currently serves on the Greater Cincinnati Foundation's Northern Kentucky Advisory Board and previously served on the 4C for Children board for seven years, three as president.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Smith College.

She and her husband Tim live in Cincinnati and have two sons.

Catalytic Philanthropy