#Wall Street-backed mega-charity Robin Hood names new CEO

The Robin Hood Foundation said Richard Buery Jr. — a former NYC deputy mayor and chief executive of charter school network Achievement First — will become the organization’s next CEO in September.

Previous Robin Hood CEO Wes Moore announced his departure from the city’s biggest anti-poverty nonprofit in February to run for governor of Maryland.

The poverty-fighting group donated $172 million to New Yorkers last year alone as coronavirus left thousands of New Yorkers unemployed, struggling and homeless. Board members underwrite administrative costs so all donations go directly to fighting poverty.

Dina Powell McCormick of Goldman Sachs, who organized the months-long CEO search, highlighted Buery’s deep ties to the city. He grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Stuyvesant High School at 16 before enrolling at Harvard and later Yale Law.

In addition to Buery’s work at City Hall promoting various initiatives including after-school programs and universal pre-K, he’s worked with nonprofits including Children’s Aid and KIPP Foundation.

Robin Hood — not to be confused with popular stock-trading app Robinhood — boasts an unparalleled list of Wall Street titans as backers.

Current and former board members include Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Point72 Asset Management CEO Steven Cohen, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Ziff Capital’s Dirk Ziff, and Duquesne’s Stan Druckenmiller. Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn and Pershing Square Capital’s Bill Ackman have served on committees at Robin Hood and Blue Ridge Capital’s John Griffin is current board chair.

“I am beyond delighted to welcome Richard Buery Jr. to the Robin Hood family at a time when Robin Hood has never been stronger,” Paul Tudor Jones II of Tudor Investment Corporation, who started Robinhood in 1988, said in a statement.

J.P. Morgan Asset & Wealth Management chief and Robin Hood board member Mary Callahan Erdoes said Robin Hood’s new CEO will be poised to help millions as the city reopens and people get back on their feet.

“Richard absolutely captures everything we were hoping to find in Robin Hood’s next leader, and we are proud to have him join the organization,” Erdoes said.

Other notable Robin Hood board members — a veritable who’s who in New York City — include News Corp. chief Lachlan Murdoch, CNN president Jeff Zucker, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, ABC’s Diane Sawyer and NBC’s Tom Brokaw.