Jill Eisenhard is a highly respected, award winning leader in the nonprofit field. Ms. Eisenhard is the Founder of the Red Hook Initiative (RHI) where she served as CEO from 2002 – 2020. Under her leadership, RHI became a $5M organization with a model recognized internationally for social justice and community-led change. Believing in the impact that a place-based organization can have, she built a community center serving over 6,500 residents, created a workforce model that returns over $1M per year to the community through local hiring, has an earned income stream from an urban farm, and has bridged the digital divide by creating a local WIFI network.

Since leaving her position at RHI, Ms. Eisenhard has worked with many organizations and leaders around Executive Leadership transitions, including serving as an Interim Executive Director three times, providing coaching to Interim Co-EDs and Board leadership, and leading a peer coaching group for non-profit Executive Directors at various stages of transition. As part of an Interim ED role, she led an organization through a socially responsible close and dissolution.

In addition to being a visionary leader, Ms. Eisenhard has practical skills developed through hands-on experience and which she shares regularly through lectures and panels focused on fundraising, budgeting, contracts management, board development, governance systems, compliance and public policy. She was a Senior Fellow with the Institute for Nonprofit Practice for three years and has an active consulting practice advising foundations, nonprofits and corporations focused on social responsibility.
Ms. Eisenhard has been recognized as a leader within the field as evidenced by a “Building Brooklyn Award” from the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, earning the Gold Medal for Excellence in Nonprofit Management from NPCC and the New York Magazine, and winning both the NBC Universal Innovation Award and the Brooklyn Community Foundation Spark Prize.

A graduate of the Coro Leadership New York program she received the Coro Alumni Leadership Award for Civic Engagement. She was featured More Magazine under their “Job Genius” series. Ms. Eisenhard was named to Crain’s 40 under 40 and was a City & State Above and Beyond honoree. Ms. Eisenhard holds a BS from Cornell University. She is a member of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation Sterling Network and is an active Advisor to the national Health Equity Initiative.

LinkedIn: Jill Eisenhard