Jean M. McKeown

Jean McKeown is a Special Advisor to President/CEO at the Community Foundation. In this role, she focuses on several major client initiatives.

With more than a quarter century of experience working at the Community Foundation, Jean has seen the organization grow from a staff of three to a staff of more than 40 that awards more in grants in a month than it did in a year back in 1997. Jean was instrumental in developing the Community Foundation’s first Strategic plan in 2006 and establishing the Community Foundation’s first Community Goals which have evolved into today’s leadership initiatives. Jean has also helped expand grant making opportunities, including introducing fee-for-service grant activities which continue to grow.

Prior to her work at the Community Foundation, Jean worked for more than 15 years at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, now the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, where she coordinated the planning and implementation of a $100 million modernization project. Previously, she worked at the State University of New York at Buffalo Research Foundation where she worked on what later became groundbreaking medical research on Multiple Sclerosis.

She received her B.S. in Business, Management and Economics from State University of New York Empire State College.