Atlanta – August 12, 2024 — The R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation, dedicated to improving the lives of Georgians through education, health, and environmental initiatives, is pleased to announce Jason Terrell will begin as the Foundation’s next President on September 9, 2024.
Jason is an experienced nonprofit executive and philanthropic leader in the Southeast. He joins the Dobbs Foundation from the Walton Family Foundation, one of the largest family philanthropies in the United States, where he serves as a Program Officer with a focus on education. Jason co-founded Profound Gentlemen, a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing the representation of male educators of color and served as Co-Founder and Executive Director from 2014 to 2021. The Dobbs Foundation was an early funder of Profound Gentlemen’s expansion to Atlanta.
In 2023, the Dobbs Foundation announced the plans for its current President, David Weitnauer, to retire in 2024 following a 17-year career leading the Foundation. The Board of Trustees partnered with Good Insight, an executive search firm with an exclusive focus on mission-driven organizations, to conduct an extensive national search for David’s successor. David will serve as a senior advisor to the Foundation through the remainder of the year.
“We are thrilled to welcome Jason to the Dobbs Foundation as its next President. Innovation has always been at the heart of our Foundation, and at this moment of change, we have found a passionate and entrepreneurial leader to carry this work forward,” said C. Mark Crosswell, Chair, Board of Trustees. “We are deeply grateful to David for his years of leadership and thoughtful stewardship of the board’s philanthropic priorities, which have truly shaped our Foundation’s legacy and the local grantmaking community.”
Born and raised in southwest Atlanta, Jason comes to the Dobbs Foundation with a shared passion for supporting low-income residents and families through strategies for building community, shaping collective impact partnerships, and investing in sustainable solutions. In addition to directing the Dobbs Foundation’s philanthropic efforts, Jason will work closely with the board and staff to identify and foster innovative and equitable strategies to address systemic challenges faced by urban, suburban, and rural communities in Georgia. Building on nearly two decades of work by David and the board, Jason’s leadership will focus on scaling the Dobbs Foundation’s commitments to increasing access to affordable healthcare, enhancing quality K- 12 teaching and learning, and protecting Georgia’s environment.
“I am thrilled by the opportunity to leverage my expertise in philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, and nonprofit administration to support the foundation’s investments in programs and leaders making a real difference in the lives of Georgia’s residents,” said Jason. “As a past grantee of the Dobbs Foundation, I have witnessed our important role in the community and I am energized by the opportunity to work alongside the board and staff team to continue to expand our impact.”
Jason is an educator, social entrepreneur, and philanthropic leader dedicated to ensuring youth and families have a path toward a self-determined life. Raised in southwest Atlanta, Jason credits a village of family and community members for instilling core values of harmony, community-led change, and Sankofa, which translates to learning from the past to build the future.
A thought leader in social innovation, Jason was recognized as Echoing Green Fellow in 2015 and by Forbes' 30 Under 30 for social entrepreneurship in 2017. He began his career at Teach for America, where he served as a middle school English teacher in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. His teaching experience led him to co-found Profound Gentlemen (PG), a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing the representation of male educators of color. As Executive Director, Jason led fundraising, revenue partnerships, operations, and expansion efforts. Under his impactful leadership, the organization grew to $1.4 million and reached school districts and charter management organizations in five states.
Prior to joining as President of the Atlanta, GA-based R. Howard Dobbs Foundation, Jason was a Program Officer for the Walton Family Foundation, where he led $22 million in grant investments for place-based initiatives and developed a workforce development strategy for the Foundation’s portfolio of educational grantmaking. He is certified by 21/64 in multigenerational philanthropic engagement, is a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP), and is part of ABFE’s Connecting Leaders Fellowship Program.
Jason holds a BA in Philosophy from Furman University and an MS in Educational Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Education. He serves on the City of Atlanta’s Commission on Fatherhood, Men, and Boys. He lives in Decatur, Georgia with his wife Casey and two sons, Julius and Orion.
The R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation improves the lives of Georgians by supporting educational opportunities, improving access to health services, and advancing environmental stewardship. The Dobbs Foundation is committed to honoring the legacy of R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. through its work.
Mr. Dobbs, a 20-year President and CEO of the Life Insurance Company of Georgia, established the foundation in 1959. His extended family and a valued group of community trustees collaborate to support the Foundation’s work, which is grounded in the core values of service, friendship, collaboration, consensus, innovation, empathetic partnership, and leadership.
With annual grantmaking totaling approximately $2.5 million, the Dobbs Foundation is committed to investing both its grant dollars and corpus in principles of equity to support Georgia’s most underserved and underrepresented populations.
With a mission to connect good causes to great leaders, Good Insight is an award-winning, women-owned and -led retained executive search firm with a mission to connect good causes with great leaders. With an exclusive focus on the social sector, Good Insight recruits talented senior executives for clients that include a wide range of nonprofits, grantmakers, associations, and social enterprises. Good Insight was named as one of America’s Top 150 Executive Recruiting firms by Forbes Magazine in 2023 and 2024. Learn more at www.good-insight.org.