As Chief Operating Officer, Russatta Buford (she/her) leads the Foundation’s efforts to align its systems and practices (finance, operations, compliance, and human resources) with our core values and the emergent needs of the communities we serve while also supporting the wellbeing and effectiveness of our staff. Before joining our team, Russatta worked at DataKind, Global Health Corps, the Brooklyn Community Foundation, and Teach For America where she expanded organizational capacity by managing operations and strategy. She also possesses experience from the financial services, oil & gas, and manufacturing sectors that she leverages more often than she ever thought possible when leaving the for-profit space.
Russatta holds an MBA from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Florida A&M University. Because she always finds a way to stay busy, she can be found either ambling around the city with her family or volunteering for food justice.
