Nicole Taylor is the president and CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation – the world’s largest community foundation with an average of $2 billion in annual grantmaking and a deep commitment to solving its region’s toughest challenges through advocacy, research, policy and grantmaking.

Nicole brings together a rich background in Bay Area philanthropy, nonprofit and higher education administration and fundraising with extensive experience in both the private and public sectors.

Since joining SVCF in 2018, Nicole has led the organization to renew its focus on the challenges facing residents of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. She has championed efforts to increase local giving from SVCF donors and offer donors new avenues for working with the community foundation so they can be effective philanthropists. During the pandemic, SVCF raised $64 million for funds to meet the needs of individuals, families, nonprofits, small businesses and education systems across 10 counties in the Bay Area.

Prior to SVCF, Nicole served as vice president of the ASU Foundation. She previously served as deputy vice president and dean of students at Arizona State University. Prior to that, Nicole was the associate vice provost of student affairs and dean of community engagement and diversity at Stanford University, after serving as president and CEO of Thrive Foundation for Youth in Silicon Valley.

Nicole also spent more than 15 years with the East Bay Community Foundation, eventually serving as its president and CEO for six years. Nicole received both her M.A. in Education and A.B. in Human Biology from Stanford University, and she began her career as an educator in Oakland public schools. She served on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and is currently a board member for Common Sense Media, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Top Hat. She is on Stanford University’s Advisory Council for the Graduate School of Education and served on the university’s 2022 Visiting Committee for the Computer Science Department.

Nicole was named to the Forbes 50 over 50 list in 2022 and recognized by Inside Philanthropy as “Community Foundation Leader of the Year.”