David Rockefeller, Jr., joined The Rockefeller Foundation board of trustees in 2006. Mr. Rockefeller began serving as Board Chair on December 2010.
Mr. Rockefeller is a director and former chairman of Rockefeller & Co. and has been an active participant in the nonprofit arena, especially in the areas of environment, philanthropy, arts, and public education.
He is a past vice chair of the National Park Foundation and reported directly to the Secretary of the Interior. Mr. Rockefeller served as a member of the Pew Oceans Commission that issued a comprehensive report on the health of U.S. marine waters in June 2003. His commitment to ensuring that our government and communities embrace and implement the recommendations of the Pew Commission—and his passion for sailing and the sea—fueled the formation of Sailors for the Sea, a “new voice for ocean conservation.”
Mr. Rockefeller is an advisor and former vice chair of the Alaska Conservation Foundation, and a founder of the Alaska Fund for the Future, an organization dedicated to preserving the Alaskan natural environment and its native cultures.
He is the former chair of the North American Nominating Committee for the Praemium Imperiale, the Japanese prize for outstanding international achievement in the arts. He is a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, the Asian Cultural Council, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He chaired Arts, Education and Americans, which produced the book, Coming to Our Senses: The Significance of the Arts for American Education. He is a founding trustee of The Cantata Singers in Boston and performed with them as a chorister for forty years.
Mr. Rockefeller is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. His former foundation affiliations have included service as Trustee and Chairman of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, President of the Rockefeller Family Fund, and Trustee of the Boston Foundation.
He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.