Heinz Endowments hires first VP for learning
The Heinz Endowments has tapped a veteran of early childhood education initiatives and policy to fill its new position of vice president for learning.
Michelle Figlar, 48, will start the job Aug. 8 at the endowments’ Downtown offices.
She is currently deputy secretary for the state of Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning in the Department of Human Services and Education, a position she has held since June 2015.
Prior to working in state government, Ms. Figlar spent nearly a decade as executive director of the Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children. Her three decades in the education field includes experience working for the Head Start program in Chicago; as a preschool special education teacher near Cleveland; as a Vista volunteer in rural northern California; and for a national child care resource association based in Washington, D.C.
At the endowments, she will oversee nearly $30 million that is distributed annually in grants targeted for education and child development programs and initiatives. The city’s second-largest foundation paid out a total $70.4 million in grants in 2015.
Her job was created as part of the endowments’ restructuring of its grantmaking strategy. Instead of giving to five traditional causes — arts and culture; education; environment; children, youth and families; and community-economic development — it has blended its focus into three areas: learning, sustainability and creativity.
Two current endowments program directors will oversee the
Sarbaugh, longtime senior program director for arts and culture will be vice president for creativity; and Andrew McElwaine, senior program director sustainability and environment will be vice president for sustainability and the environment.
Grant Oliphant, the endowments’ president, called Ms. Figlar a “visionary leader and a passionate advocate for kids.”
The endowments conducted a national search to fill the position and interviewed seven candidates he said.
“Most had some kind of Pittsburgh connection, meaning they had either lived here previously and wanted to return or had family here,” he said. “We selected Michelle because of her broad expertise and practical experience in multiple settings, but her familiarity with this community was certainly a bonus. And we are delighted to be bringing someone with her skills and passion for children back home to Pittsburgh.”
A native of Hazelwood, Ms. Figlar holds a bachelor’s degree in child development from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s in early childhood special education from Kent State University.
In her new job, she said she looks forward to getting out into the community to talk with parents and educators about their access to educational resources and what they need to achieve “highquality early learning” in their neighborhoods.
“I will conduct some listening tours right away,” she said. “I’m looking forward to having some conversations and some of them will be hard. But it will help us get to a place where we can make things better. We’re not dictating the solution. We need to ask what they are dreaming and thinking about. It’s harder to listen than just putting a plan in place.”
Gregg Behr, executive director of the Grable Foundation, which focuses its grantmaking on education, said Ms. Figlar has been an informal adviser to the philanthropy on issues including highquality early learning, play, professional development and digital learning for children.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Michelle back to Pittsburgh,” he said. “While we were glad and grateful for her leadership in Harrisburg, we know she, too, is passionate about helping to make Pittsburgh one of the world’s best places to be a child and to raise a child.”