Ellen V. Futter joined the Markle Foundation as Interim President in February 2024, became its President in June 2025, and launched the AI for Disasters + Emergencies (AIDE) Initiative in October 2025.
Prior to her current appointment, Futter led the American Museum of Natural History for nearly three decades. During her tenure, she reinvigorated the over 150-year-old institution and expanded its scientific and educational scope. She spearheaded the construction of the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation—with a new state-of-the-art theater, exhibition galleries, classrooms, and a redesigned library and collections core—and the Rose Center for Earth and Space. She also led the development of the Museum’s Richard Gilder Graduate School, the only freestanding degree-granting graduate school at any museum in the U.S., offering a Ph.D. in Comparative Biology and Masters in Teaching Science
Futter has been a nationally recognized leader in the educational and nonprofit worlds since 1980, when she became the youngest person to be appointed president of a major American college: Barnard College, her alma mater, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude. Following her graduation from Columbia Law School, Futter began her career as an associate at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (now Milbank), where she practiced corporate law from 1974 to 1980.
Futter also has the distinction of having been the first woman to head a major New York City cultural institution and the first woman to chair the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. A wide range of corporations and nonprofits seek out Futter’s advice and expertise.
She serves on the board of Evercore Inc. She is also an an ex-officio member of the board of directors of NYC & Company, a member of the board of overseers of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and is a member of the board of trustees of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the Brookings Institution.
Futter has been recognized for her leadership with numerous awards and honorary degrees.
