MENLO PARK, Calif.—The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation announced today that Alecia A. DeCoudreaux, the president of Mills College in Oakland, California, will be joining the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
DeCoudreaux has served since 2011 as the president of Mills, an independent liberal arts college for women with graduate programs for women and men. Under her leadership, Mills has been recognized for its academic excellence, including being ranked sixth among regional colleges and universities in the West by U.S. News & World Report and as one of the top ten master’s universities in the country by the Washington Monthly.
Prior to becoming president of Mills, DeCoudreaux was an attorney and executive at Eli Lilly and Company, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. During more than three decades with Lilly, DeCoudreaux held a number of key positions, including director of community relations; director of federal government relations; executive director, medical research administration, and vice president for law for Lilly Research Laboratories; vice president and general counsel for Lilly USA; and finally vice president and deputy general counsel, specialty legal team, for Eli Lilly and Company.
“Throughout her career and life, Alecia has combined a dedication to the institutions she has served with a powerful commitment to the communities she has been a part of,” said Hewlett Foundation Board Chair Harvey Fineberg. “I’m sure she will bring that same commitment to the Hewlett Foundation community and its grantmaking.”
“I am very pleased to be joining the Board of the Hewlett Foundation,” said DeCoudreaux, “I care deeply about the issues the Foundation works on, especially education and women’s economic empowerment, and I look forward to learning more about the Foundation’s grantees.”
DeCoudreaux is an emeritus member of the Indiana University School of Law Board of Visitors and the Wellesley College Board of Trustees, both of which she previously chaired. Among her extensive board service and volunteer activities, DeCoudreaux has also been a director of the Indiana University Foundation and the Wellesley College Alumnae Association, as well as president of the Economic Club of Indiana Board of Governors, and a member of the Indiana University President’s Council, the United Way of America’s Board of Trustees, and the board of Indianapolis Downtown, Inc.
She currently serves on The Commonwealth Club of California Board of Governors and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges Council of Presidents, and is a member of the advisory committee for the Women in Public Service Project, a program of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, DeCoudreaux holds a bachelor’s degree in English and political science from Wellesley College and a law degree from Indiana University School of Law.
About The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation helps people build measurably better lives. The Foundation concentrates its resources on activities in education, the environment, global development and population, performing arts, and philanthropy, as well as grants to support disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. A full list of the Hewlett Foundation’s grants can be found in its online grants database.
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