Joe Scantlebury

Joe Scantlebury is the President and CEO of Living Cities, a collaborative of prominent foundations and financial institutions who envision an equitable and inclusive economy in which all residents of American cities live economically sustainable, abundant, thriving, connected and healthy lives and can build generational wealth. Joe leads an expert staff, who partner and collaborate with leaders from government, civil society, philanthropy, and the corporate and financial sectors and advance capital innovations in home and business ownership, impact investing, and other wealth building strategies.

Prior to joining Living Cities, Joe served as vice president for program strategy at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and led strategic programming efforts to improve the lives of vulnerable children and families in the Foundation’s priority places. As senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Washington, D.C., Joe led state policy advocacy Northeast, Midwest, and Mid-South states. Joe also helped the Gates Foundation innovate in its support for civil rights and equity advocacy organizations.  Prior to philanthropy, Joe represented the interests of children in the Juvenile Justice and Dependency Care systems served as a staff attorney at the Youth Law Center in Washington, DC. Served as the founding director of the National HIRE Network, and CEO & General Counsel for STRIVE NY.

Joe received a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University’s New York State School of Industrial & Labor Relations, a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law, a Master of Public Administration from the NYU Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, and a Doctor of Humane Letters from Livingstone College.

Joe is a board member of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy and the Televisa Univision Foundation, Zephyr Impact, and a member of the Fidelity Investments and Fidelity Foundation Invest in My Education Advisory Board.