Stephen Heintz
About
Stephen Heintz is President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Before joining the RBF, he held top leadership positions in both the nonprofit and public sectors. Most recently, he was founding president of Dēmos, a public policy research and advocacy organisation working to enhance the vitality of American democracy and promote more broadly shared prosperity.
Prior to founding Dēmos, Stephen served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of the EastWest Institute (EWI), where he worked on issues of economic reform, civil society development, and international security.
Based in Prague, Czech Republic, from 1990 through 1997, he worked extensively throughout Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States. He devoted the first 15 years of his career to politics and government service in the State of Connecticut, where he served as commissioner of economic development and commissioner of social welfare. In 1988, he helped draft and secure passage by Congress of the Family Support Act, the first major effort to reform the nation’s welfare system.
He currently serves on the boards of the EastWest Institute, the Rockefeller Archive Center, and the American Prospect. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014 the Nonprofit Times named him one of the 50 most influential leaders of the nonprofit sector.
In 2013, President Bronisław Komorowski of Poland granted him the Officer’s Cross – Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for his contributions to building civil society and democratic institutions in Poland.