Contact: Amy A. LeFebre | 616-450-4292 | alefebre@truscottrossman.com
Board of Trustees launches national search as Foundation continues to expand civic education and strategic partnerships.
November 9, 2026
GRAND RAPIDS, MI — The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation today announced that Executive Director Gleaves Whitney will step down effective Dec. 31, 2026. The Foundation’s Board of Trustees has engaged Korn Ferry to conduct a national search for his successor.
Whitney – the Foundation’s fourth executive director since President Ford established it in 1981 – took the helm in September 2020, in the depths of the pandemic. He will continue to serve the West Michigan community in new ways.
“Gleaves Whitney has led this Foundation with deep respect for President Ford’s character and steadfast loyalty to our mission,” said David Hoogendoorn, chair of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation Board of Trustees. “He brought President Ford’s example of integrity and civility to new generations and new communities, and he leaves the Foundation stronger than he found it. We are grateful for his leadership, and we are committed to building on it.”
Under Whitney’s leadership, the Foundation reached more people than ever before. He launched the Ford Leadership Forum, which now runs programs from Washington, D.C. to Palm Desert, Calif. Forum members made up 30 percent of the 2026 incoming class at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. He also established the Foundation’s first institutional advancement office and led the FORD50 Campaign, the first non-capital campaign in its history, which has raised $11.4 million to strengthen civic education and strategic partnerships.
“Our father and mother believed public service was a public trust, and Gleaves Whitney has honored that belief every day as executive director,” said Michael Ford and Steven Ford, trustees of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation. “His success is inseparable from the mission he served: carrying our parents’ legacy of integrity and service to the next generation of Americans. On behalf of the trustees, we thank him.”
Whitney’s connection to the Ford began in 2003, when he started coordinating programs with the Ford Museum as director of Grand Valley State University’s Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies. “My admiration for President and Mrs. Ford has guided my work for more than two decades,” said Whitney. “It has been a profound honor to carry President Ford’s legacy forward and to serve the Ford family and this community. I’m eager to bring what I’ve learned over these decades to new opportunities to serve the West Michigan community and beyond.”
The Foundation’s mission and commitments continue without interruption, including the FORD50 Campaign through Jan. 20, 2027, and the launch of the Town Hall GR series at the Ford on Nov. 16. The series will delve into the impact of the Ford presidency by asking what it means to apply President Ford’s ethical, political, constitutional, and economic principles to our challenges today.
The search for Whitney’s successor launched today. Deputy Director Rachel Siglow will serve as Interim Executive Director starting the first of the year.