Robert Ross

California Endowment

The California Endowment is a private statewide foundation established in 1996 to address the health needs of Californians. In 2023 the California Endowment’s board elected to transition the endowment’s assets to support and more fully align with the Endowment’s vision. By committing to invest their portfolio towards the organization’s mission and values, they sought to leverage their influence as an institutional investor to stand with the communities they serve, and to contribute to a more inclusive form of capitalism. To that end, the Endowment has made the deliberate decision to be more than a grant maker and more than a community agitator. Today, the Endowment embraces its identity as an institutional investor and is committing to go “all in” to begin aligning all its investment assets with its mission and values. With $4 billion in assets under management, this may be the largest impact investing commitment ever made by an endowment or foundation. Robert K. Ross is president and Chief Executive Officer of the California Endowment. Before he joined the endowment in 2000, he served as director of the Health and Human Services Agency for the County of San Diego. He has an extensive background in health philanthropy and as a public health administrator and clinician, including serving as a commissioner for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. He is a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans and co-chair of the Diversity in Philanthropy