Derek Kilmer is the Senior Vice President of U.S. Program and Policy for The Rockefeller Foundation. As head of U.S. Program and Policy, Mr. Kilmer leads a new range of work to engage domestic and global leaders, civil society actors, businesses, and institutions to advance issues core to The Rockefeller Foundation’s mission. In addition, he oversees several existing, high-impact projects that the Foundation is driving alongside strategic partners, including: Invest in Our Future (IOF), a coalition of philanthropies focused on ensuring communities around the country can access the benefits of U.S. climate policy equitably; Pro-Working Family Tax Policy Initiative, a portfolio of grantees committed to effectively using fiscal policy to reduce economic inequality in the U.S. and support working families; Global Economic Recovery (GER), a policy coalition focused on improving the quantum and quality of development finance to support progress on global climate and development goals; and Economic Opportunity Collective (EOC), a multi-stakeholder partnership aimed at mobilizing capital for small businesses in the United States.
Prior to joining the foundation, Kilmer served six terms as U.S. Representative for Washington’s Sixth District. A native of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, Kilmer passed a landmark economic development law to help economically distressed communities, establishing a program that became the most popular in the Economic Development Administration’s history.
During his time in Congress, Kilmer also served as Chairman of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress which passed over 200 recommendations to make Congress work better and which was described in the Washington Post as a story of “shocking function.”
Prior to Congress, Kilmer worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Co. and for a nonprofit focused on economic development. Kilmer earned an undergraduate degree from Princeton and a doctorate from Oxford. He’s a bass player, Star Wars fan, and author of an unpublished book about berries that he wrote for his kids.