Depelsha McGruder
Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Treasurer
Depelsha McGruder is the foundation’s chief operating officer and treasurer. Based in New York, she oversees Ford’s global operations, including finance, information technology and information management, grants management, event strategy and production, international operations, facilities, workplace experience, and property management.
Prior to joining the foundation in 2020, Depelsha served as COO of New York Public Radio (NYPR), where she oversaw internal operations and strategic planning for WNYC, WQXR, Gothamist.com, 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, as well as digital content, to build a sustainable future for NYPR amidst a rapidly changing media landscape.
Before her tenure at NYPR, Depelsha spent 17 years at Viacom in senior leadership positions at both MTV and BET Networks. During that time, she launched mobile, broadband, and video-on-demand businesses for MTV. In addition, she developed and operated two new cable television networks with programming designed to serve underrepresented Latino, African American, and youth audiences, resulting in triple-digit growth in both audience and revenue. She started her career as a broadcast journalist, working as an on-air reporter, anchor, and producer for two commercial television stations in Georgia.
Depelsha is the founder and board chair of Moms of Black Boys United and MOBB United for Social Change, sister organizations dedicated to positively influencing how black boys and men are perceived and treated by law enforcement and in society. She serves on the boards of Howard University, the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, the Harvard Business School Club of New York, Oaktree Capital Management, GoFundMe and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. She holds a BA from Howard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.