BENTONVILLE, Ark., March 27, 2018 – The Walton Family Foundation announced today two additions to its leadership team – Lisa Montez as general counsel and Frances Woodard as people director.
“The Walton Family Foundation continues to strengthen its staff by recruiting top talent. Both Lisa and Frances share the principles and values that have guided the work of the foundation for 30 years,” said Kyle Peterson, executive director of the Walton Family Foundation.
Montez, who has been engaged in the philanthropic and nonprofit sector for 15 years, serves as the first general counsel at the Walton Family Foundation. In this capacity, Montez guides the foundation’s use of philanthropic tools to maximize social impact and provide advice on a wide range of legal matters, including compliance with laws and regulations applicable to private foundations and formulation of governance practices and policies. She also advises program staff on grantmaking and transactional matters.
Prior to joining the foundation, Montez was deputy general counsel and assistant secretary at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Montez is a graduate of Rice University and the University of Texas School of Law.
Woodard, formerly vice president of human resources at Human Rights First, joins the Walton Family Foundation as its first people director. In this new role, Woodard will be an innovator responsible for developing and implementing an integrated strategic program for all people-related functions for the organization. She will lead efforts in recruiting; diversity, equity and inclusion; performance measurement; training and development; and recognition and compensation.
Woodard has previously held a number of senior roles at organizations including The ONE Campaign, ONE Economy Corporation and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Woodard is a certified senior professional of human resources and a graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park.
About the Walton Family Foundation
The Walton Family Foundation is, at its core, a family-led foundation. The children and grandchildren of our founders, Sam and Helen Walton, lead the foundation and create access to opportunity for people and communities. We work in three areas: improving K-12 education, protecting rivers and oceans and the communities they support, and investing in our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta. In 2016, the foundation awarded more than $454 million in grants in support of these initiatives. To learn more, visit waltonfamilyfoundation.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.