Ronald M. Rowell

Biographical Details
"Ron Rowell joined Common Counsel Foundation after having served as Program Officer for Social Justice at the San Francisco Foundation from 2000 to 2009. He earned his master’s degree in public health from the University of California at Berkeley.  His professional career prior to philanthropy included health planning, refugee resettlement, economic development with American Indian tribes, and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.  He founded the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center in 1987 and became its first executive director in late 1988 where he served until going to The San Francisco Foundation. He serves as president of Native Americans in Philanthropy, vice president of Funders for LGBTQ Issues, and co-chair of the Public Policy Committee of Northern California Grantmakers.  He is also president of the Board of Directors of the Friendship House Association of American Indians of San Francisco, an 80-bed residential and outpatient drug and alcohol treatment program for Northern California and Western Nevada. He was appointed to the board of the French-American Cultural Society in 2005 by the Consul-General of France in San Francisco and serves on the board of the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. He received the American Indian Local Hero Award from public station KQED in San Francisco in 2007. He is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma."