First Year with IHF

1995

Focus Areas

Early Care and Development, Child and Family Policy, Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and Trauma, Systems Development, Public-Private Partnerships

Education

M.P.P., University of Chicago
B.A. in English, University of Michigan

Phyllis Glink (she/her/hers) is the Executive Director of the Irving Harris Foundation. In her over two decades with the Foundation, she has helped to develop and implement its grantmaking and field leadership strategies in the areas of early childhood development and infant and early childhood mental health, reproductive health and justice, Jewish values, and social justice. She works closely with the Foundation’s team and the Foundation’s partners in the non-profit, advocacy, philanthropy, and government communities to leverage shared investments and maximize the impact of Foundation grants in Illinois and across the country. She holds many leadership roles in the public and philanthropic sectors including serving as co-chair of the Governor’s Early Learning Council, chair of the BUILD Advisory Board and Co-chair of the Early Relational Health committee at the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative. She was a commissioner on the Illinois Commission on Equitable Funding for Early Childhood Education and Care, the Advisory Board of the National Center of Excellence in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, and a long serving member of the State’s Childcare Advisory Board. Glink served on the transition teams for Governor Pritzker, Governor Rauner, Mayor Lightfoot and President Barack Obama.

Prior to joining the Irving Harris Foundation, she worked for the Chicago Community Trust focusing on grant making and program development in the areas of education and women and girls’ issues. She started her career in philanthropy at the University of Chicago where she worked for seven years in the Central Development Office as a major gifts officer raising funds for the successful $650 million capital campaign.

Phyliis earned her Master’s in Public Policy from The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and her B.A. from the University of Michigan.