Phil Buchanan, President of CEP, is a passionate advocate for the importance of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector and deeply committed to the cause of helping foundations to maximize their impact. Hired in 2001 as the organization’s first chief executive, Phil has led the growth of CEP into the leading provider of data and insight on foundation effectiveness. CEP has been widely credited with bringing the voice of grantees and other stakeholders into the foundation boardroom and with contributing to an increased emphasis on clear goals, coherent strategies, disciplined implementation, and relevant performance indicators as the necessary ingredients to maximize foundation effectiveness and impact.

Phil is co-author of many CEP research reports, a columnist for The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and a frequent blogger for the CEP Blog. Phil is also co-founder of YouthTruth, an initiative of CEP’s designed to harness student perceptions to help educators accelerate improvements in their K–12 schools and classrooms. He holds an MBA from Harvard University and received his undergraduate degree in Government from Wesleyan University. He has been recognized six times as among the Nonprofit Times “power and influence top 50” – most recently in 2017. In 2016 he was named the Nonprofit Times “influencer of the year.” Phil was born in Toronto, grew up in Oregon, and currently lives in Lexington, Massachusetts with his wife and two daughters.