Principal

Christine Sherry has forty years of experience at the intersection of governance, nonprofit management, law, and philanthropy. After practicing as a commercial litigator and general counsel for twenty years, in 2001, she founded The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW) West, a partnership between the Rockefeller Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and TOSA Foundation in Silicon Valley. Under her leadership, TPW West became a globally-recognized leader in philanthropic donor education. Christine designed and led the program for nearly a decade, training and educating over 150 high-net-worth families and individuals to be more effective and impactful in their giving.

In 2008, Christine founded a private advisory practice. As an internationally-recognized leader in the nonprofit sector, impact investing, and philanthropy, she advises some of the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States and abroad, as well as major philanthropic families and individuals beginning to establish a philanthropic philosophy and focus. Her clients are as diverse as the Raikes Foundation, Sidney Myer Fund, Schmidt Family Foundation, Skoll Foundation, Planet Heritage Foundation, Ian Potter Foundation, Blue Meridian Partners, Virgin Unite, J.P. Morgan Chase, and numerous private family foundations and other clients who choose to remain anonymous.

The firm’s services include strategic advising, market analysis, and landscape scans of key fields of investment, pooled funds, due diligence, growth strategies, and governance. Christine regularly advises public and private foundations and nonprofit boards on strategic growth, board development, succession planning, best practices in governance, and issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Other areas of expertise include working with hybrid for-profit and nonprofit organizations, working with B Corps, mission-aligned and socially-responsible investing, and emerging trends in philanthropy. A former senior executive and a litigator with expertise in employment, securities, and antitrust law, Christine has worked with various boards on risk analysis, human resources, and legal liability. A two-time entrepreneur and founder, she brings an entrepreneurial mindset to her work honed over the course of founding two successful enterprises.

Since 2009, Christine has also taught courses on nonprofits, philanthropy, and governance through Stanford Continuing Studies. In addition, she has served on multiple nonprofit boards, including the Swanson Family Foundation since 2001 and the San Francisco Ballet since 2002, where she currently chairs the Governance Committee and is a member of the Executive Committee and former chair of the Long-Range Planning Committee.

Prior to entering the field of philanthropy, Christine was a commercial litigator with McCutchen Doyle and served as Vice President and General Counsel of SRI International, formerly Stanford Research Institute, one of the world’s largest scientific research organizations. There, she was responsible for all aspects of legal management and oversight, intellectual property, board governance, and licensing. During her tenure, SRI International developed a ventures and licensing board, which spun technologies out of its various laboratories, among them the artificial-intelligence-developed speech technology behind the Siri personal assistant. Christine received her BA from Stanford University with Highest Honors in International Relations and Humanities Honors and her JD from the University of California Berkeley (Boalt Hall).