Bill Somerville

President and CEO of Philanthropic Ventures Foundation (PVF) and a founding member of the NAB, Bill has decades of experience in the nonprofit sector. He is a nationally recognized expert on creative grantmaking, having spent more than 50 years developing innovative programs to help the neediest among us. In 1991, after 17 years as the executive director of the Peninsula Community Foundation (now known as the Silicon Valley Community Foundation), Somerville founded Philanthropic Ventures Foundation (PVF), which specializes in creative giving programs customized to donor’s interests. Bill has consulted with over 400 community and family foundations in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He is a recipient of the 2004 Gerbode Fellowship Award in recognition of outstanding achievement as a nonprofit executive. He serves on the advisory boards of the Peery Family Foundation, the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare, and the Junior League of Palo Alto. Bill has worked with the Haas Center for Public Service to establish the Tom Ford and Sand Hill Fellowships, to introduce more young people to philanthropy and foundation work. He authored Grassroots Philanthropy: Field Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker with Fred Setterberg, which is a guide to decisive, hands-on grantmaking.