Depelsha McGruder
Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Treasurer
Depelsha McGruder is chief operating officer (COO) and treasurer of the foundation, overseeing global operations for 11 offices in the United States, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In this role, she manages multiple divisions, including finance, information technology, information management, grants management, event strategy and production, facilities/property management, workplace experience, and international operations, as well as shepherds alignment around meeting overall organizational goals.
Before joining Ford in 2020, Depelsha served as COO and interim CEO of New York Public Radio (NYPR), where she oversaw internal operations, cultural transformation, and strategic planning for WNYC radio and podcast studio, WQXR classical music, Gothamist, the Greene Space, and New Jersey Public Radio. She also partnered with senior leadership to chart the course of local news, talk, and cultural programming and digital content to build a sustainable future for NYPR amidst a rapidly changing media landscape. Before her tenure at NYPR, McGruder spent 17 years at Viacom in senior leadership positions at MTV and BET Networks. During that time, she launched mobile, broadband, and video-on-demand businesses. In addition, she developed, launched, and operated two new cable television networks (MTV Tr3s and Centric) with programming designed to serve underrepresented Latino, African American, and youth audiences, resulting in triple-digit growth in audience and revenue. Depelsha started her career as a broadcast journalist, serving as an on-air reporter, anchor, and producer for two commercial television stations in Georgia.
Depelsha serves on the boards of Oaktree Capital, GoFundMe, Howard University, the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, and the Harvard Business School (HBS) Club of New York. She earned a bachelor of arts degree from Howard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.In 2018, McGruder was selected as a Forward Promise fellow by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for her work in healing trauma for boys and young men of color. In 2021, she was selected for BBC’s “100 Women” series and in 2022 she was named to “The Root 100,” an annual list that honors the most influential Black Americans. She was also named to Forbes’ “50 Over 50” list for Impact in 2023. She has received multiple honors from HBS for outstanding achievement and public service, including the John C. Whitehead Social Enterprise Award from the HBS Club of New York, the Bert King Award for Service from the HBS African-American Alumni Association, and the HBS Alumni Achievement Award, the highest honor the school bestows.