Poetry Foundation Appoints Richard P. Kiphart New Board Chair
CHICAGO – The Poetry Foundation is pleased to announce that on June 9, Richard P. Kiphart was appointed to the position of board chair, succeeding John J. Kenney. Kenney became a trustee in 2009 and served as chair since 2011, completing 2 two-year terms, the maximum number of terms the Foundation board of trustees allows.
“Being a part of the Poetry Foundation’s growth from the opening of its beautiful building, to leading the transition team from the first to the second president and, especially, to watching it build on the excellent and long-standing reputation of Poetry magazine to become a world-class literary institution, have been proud moments for me,” said Kenney. “Turning the reins over to Dick Kiphart, whom I have worked with closely since he joined the board in 2012, I believe that the Foundation could not be in better hands.”
Kiphart has an extensive and deep commitment to supporting the arts and charitable work. From June 2001 to June 2005, he was chairman of Chicago’s Merit School of Music, for which he led a $19 million capital campaign. The new facility provides free music lessons to more than 4,000 inner-city children. In May of 2006, he became president and CEO of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and has served on its board of directors since 1998. In June 2006, he became chairman of the Erikson Institute, a Chicago graduate school in child development. He is also vice chairman of the Board of Columbia College in Chicago and is on the board of Children’s Memorial Hospital.
A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Kiphart and his wife, Susan, live in Chicago and have three daughters and six grandchildren. They have been involved in providing water for villages in Ghana, funding approximately 80 wells in villages without power or water in the past eight years and following up with schools in 15 villages in which girls are back in school and not fetching water. Kiphart is on the advisory board of DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa—the acronym also stands for Democracy, Accountability, Transparency, Africa), an organization formed in 2002 by rock star and social activist Bono, which aims to reduce poverty in Africa through advocating international policy changes.
Kiphart has worked for William Blair & Company since 1965. He earned a BA in engineering science from Dartmouth College in 1963 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1965, after which he joined the Chicago-based investment firm William Blair & Company. Shortly thereafter, he left to serve as an officer in the US Navy aboard a minesweeper during the Vietnam War and then returned to the firm. In 1969, Kiphart joined William Blair’s institutional sales department. In 1972, he became a general partner and was promoted to head of equity trading, where he served until 1980. In March 2009, he became head of the private client advisers. He had previously served as head of corporate finance since 1995, having been with the department since 1980.
Kiphart also served as chairman of Concord EFS, Inc., a NYSE company in the credit-card processing industry, which merged with First Data Corporation in 2004. He is lead director of Lime Energy and chairman of Ranir Corporation.
“I am grateful to have been elected to board chair of the Poetry Foundation,” said Kiphart. “It is a premier poetry organization in the United States for which we can thank and attribute to the efforts of a terrific staff, our board, and the source of our good fortune—Ruth Lilly’s generous gift in 2003.”
###
About the Poetry Foundation
The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative literary prizes and programs. For more information, please visit poetryfoundation.org.
Follow the Poetry Foundation and Poetry on Facebook at facebook.com/poetryfoundation or on Twitter @PoetryFound.
POETRY FOUNDATION | 61 West Superior Street | Chicago, IL 60654 | 312.787.7070
Media contacts:
Elizabeth Burke-Dain, [email protected], 312.799.8016
Polly Faust, [email protected], 312.799.8065