James W. Head is Director of Programs at The San Francisco Foundation and has over 25 years of experience in the field of community and economic development. Mr. Head served as President of the National Economic Development and Law Center for 17 years before coming to the Foundation. A lawyer by training, Mr. Head has significant nonprofit management, programmatic, and legal experience and has worked on nonprofit legal issues, nonprofit finance issues, as a consultant to foundations, business, government, and as a professor of law.
 
As Director of Programs, Mr. Head is responsible for guiding a broad range of program areas and sustaining the vitality of the Foundation's community grant making. His past affiliations and community service include Legal Counsel of the California Community Economic Development Association, the Community Advisory Board of Union Bank of California, as a member and past Board President of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, and the Advisory Board of the Open Society Foundation of New York. He also previously served as an adviser to the 2001 Race Commission in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a member of the Consumer Advisory Counsel of the Federal Reserve Board, and was a founding board member of the California Community Economic Development Lending Initiative.
 
Mr. Head holds a bachelors degree from the University of Georgia and a law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law. He holds state bar memberships in Georgia, Florida, and California.
 
The San Francisco Foundation is a regional Community Foundation serving five counties in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. It is a leading agent of Bay Area philanthropy and ranks seventh nationally in grant making and assets among community foundations. Areas of focus include Arts and Culture, Education, Environment, Community Health, Community Development, and Social Justice.