Anne Wallestad

Anne Wallestad serves as president and CEO of BoardSource, a globally recognized nonprofit focused on strengthening nonprofit leadership at the highest level — the board of directors. With expertise cultivated over more than three decades, BoardSource strengthens nonprofit leadership through research, thought leadership, and practical supports that help transform board structures, dynamics, and perspectives.

Anne was appointed to her position in 2013, after having served on BoardSource’s leadership team since 2008. She has overseen a period of remarkable organizational growth and change, helping establish BoardSource as a leading voice on issues of critical importance to the nonprofit sector and society as a whole. This includes the urgent need for nonprofit organizations and their boards to acknowledge and address how a lack of diversity in nonprofit leadership is impeding the social sector’s ability to serve our communities. Early in her tenure, Anne designed a shift toward a scalable model of program delivery that has resulted in a more than 500 percent growth in the number of leaders served by BoardSource since 2012 and led to BoardSource’s recognition as a top ten finalist for the prestigious Drucker Prize for innovation.

A 20-year veteran of nonprofit leadership, Anne has held leadership roles with a number of national and local organizations including more than seven years of leadership in the movement for LGBT civil rights at the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and the Human Rights Campaign. Throughout her years of leadership within the nonprofit sector, she has cultivated deep expertise in fundraising strategy and leveraging the board’s fundraising role. She is a member of the board of directors of Award USA and serves on a number of advisory committees. Anne also has been honored multiple times as one of The Nonprofit Times’s “Power & Influence Top 50.”