Ellen Friedman

Ellen Friedman is the Executive Director at the Compton Foundation, which seeks to ignite change toward a sustainable, just, and peaceful future. The Foundation’s program strategy supports transformative leadership and courageous storytelling in the areas of peace, environment, and women’s reproductive health, rights, and justice.  Previously Ellen served as the executive vice president of Tides where she worked for 23 years with individual donors and other social change activists. During her tenure at Tides, between 1999 and 2005, Ellen led the Community Clinics Initiative, a partnership between The California Endowment and Tides, which supported the technology capacity development of California’s Community Health Centers. Ellen brings to her work a deep interest in organizational design and leadership, innovative grant program development and implementation, and a passion for transformative social change around the world. She is a trustee of Futures Without Violence, formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund and a member of The California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities Advisory Board.