Partner Profile: Bill Porter

(From the July 2008 Newsletter)

Bill Porter and his wife Kieren have been SVPP Partners for three years. They have two lovely children: Evan, easy-going at age six, attends Tucker Maxon School and is a bundle of curiosity with interests in everything – he currently aspires to be a Buddhist monk or maybe join the Air Force; and Rosemarie, 18 months, is strong-willed and loves to swim, play in the Tupperware drawer, and go bike riding and camping with her family. Bill and Kieren met in Colorado, where they both worked for the Governor's Office (Bill as education policy aide, lobbyist and policy director and Kieren as a political aide and director of scheduling). They married in 1995 and moved to the Northwest in 1996. They love Portland and plan to stay. Kieren is the director of strategic communications for The Regence Group, the non-profit health insurer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in the Northwest (Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington).

Bill is currently in transition. For almost seven years, he served as executive director of Grantmakers for Education, a national professional network that aims to build knowledge and improve effectiveness of educational philanthropy. While he greatly enjoyed his work, Bill recently decided to step into a new set of challenges and create with two friends a new venture, Education First Consulting. The firm's goal is to work with foundations and nonprofit advocacy groups to improve the impact of their efforts in education; the firm's Web site is www.educationfirstconsulting.com. Bill also sees this transition as an opportunity to have more time with his family, with a goal to work 25-30 hours a week and be more involved with his children day-to-day.

Bill referred himself to Social Venture Partners, as he was familiar with the SVP model from his interactions with Paul Shoemaker in Seattle. Bill sees SVPP's work as a nice complement to his professional work, a chance to do grantmaking himself and to localize his connection to the nonprofit community. He served on the Investment Team in 2006, and has been the Lead Partner for CCIP (Childcare Improvement Project) for two years.

In honor of Bill Porter’s service to Grantmakers for Education, their donors gave $900 to SVPP. Thank you, Bill, and good luck with the new venture.