Ellen Gilligan amplified the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s role as community leader, convener and catalyst as its president and CEO from 2010 until her retirement in 2024, bringing people together around a shared vision for a vibrant region. Her tenure was marked by growth, collaboration and a deep commitment to strategies that foster access to opportunity, strengthen the community and improve lives. She led the foundation to undertake a historic Greater Together campaign, which raised $726.8 million from more than 4,800 donors, exceeding its goal of $700 million. The comprehensive campaign was broadly inclusive of all donors' philanthropic goals and strategically focused on key issues, including early care and education, health equity, economic inclusion and housing.

Serving Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties, the foundation is Wisconsin’s largest community foundation – managing more than $1 billion in assets. Since being established in 1915, the foundation has awarded over $1 billion in grants supporting a wide variety of nonprofits and initiatives that enhance the quality of life in greater Milwaukee and beyond. Those included support for Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and for in-depth public service journalism projects that shed light on how Milwaukee went from ranking statistically as one of the best places in the nation for African American families in the early 1970s to one of the worst places after a massive loss in manufacturing jobs.

In 2020, Gillligan led the launch of the foundation’s new strategic vision of “A Milwaukee for All” to focus philanthropy on mending the fault line of systemic racism that prevents individuals, families and the region from reaching their full potential. She guided the foundation through the organization and launch of Milwaukee Succeeds, a communitywide educational partnership focused on success for every child in every school, cradle to career. She encouraged the development of the foundation’s impact investing program, which committed to investing $30 million over five years to support small businesses, job creation and economic opportunity in communities where investment has been scarce. And she guided the foundation’s lead role in the community-centered ThriveOn Collaboration and its place-based strategies for advancing racial and health equity.

Much of Gilligan’s career has been dedicated to the community foundation field. Before coming to Milwaukee, she spent 12 years at the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. She serves on the national boards of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and CFLeads, a national network of community foundations leading change (past board chair).

She serves on the board of the Greater Milwaukee Committee and co-chairs MKE United.

Gilligan was a member of the Milwaukee Succeeds Leadership Table, co-chair of the MKE United Downtown Action Agenda, and a mayoral appointment to the city of Milwaukee’s Black Male Achievement Advisory Council. She is a past board member of the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County.

Gilligan is a graduate of the University of Colorado. She and her husband,
Charlie DeSando, have two adult sons.