Sterling Speirn is a philanthropic and civic leader with more than 40 years of experience advancing community well-being and civic engagement.  His career spans roles as a classroom teacher, legal aid attorney, and community health center manager, followed by leadership positions in corporate, community, and private philanthropy, including Apple Computer, the Peninsula Community Foundation (now Silicon Valley Community Foundation), and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.  From these platforms he has worked across a range of issues including early childhood literacy, racial justice, the social determinants of health, financial security, food systems, and the end of life.

In 2018 he joined the American Academy of Arts & Sciences commission that produced the landmark report: Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century.  As a result of this work, he now supports more than fifty nonpartisan pro-democracy organizations, including structural reform groups, deliberative dialogue/bridging groups, civic education and action groups, and projects for local journalism and pro-social civic tech.  In recent years he completed encore assignments as CEO of the National Conference on Citizenship (2018-19), as Interim CEO at the Maine Community Foundation, (2021-22), and as Interim CEO at CFLeads (2022-23).

He currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Raising a Reader, Community Heart & Soul, and Rhizome. He serves on the Advisory Boards of The Civics Center, CivxNow, the Community Foundations for Civic Health Initiative, and the national Urban Garden Project. He is a member of PACE, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement and the Democracy Funders Network. He lives in Washington, DC, where he is an avid community gardener, a decent bicyclist, and a member of the League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia.