Shawn Escoffery is the Executive Director of the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Foundation. RPDFF invest in innovative solutions and community leaders to build a more just, equitable and sustainable world in which all people thrive. Shawn manages a small staff, a $5 million annual grantmaking budget and an endowment approaching $130 million. Prior to joining RPDFF Shawn Escoffery directed the Strong Local Economics program at the Surdna Foundation – a nationally focused family foundation with over $1 billion dollars in assets. In this role, Shawn worked to support the development of robust and sustainable economies that include a wide range of businesses, equitable economic policy and access to quality jobs. With an annual budget of $9.2 million, the program aims to create opportunities for upward economic mobility among communities that have experienced historical barriers to opportunity, including low-income people, communities of color, women, and immigrants. As the foundation developed a mission related investing and impact investing portfolio, Shawn was also responsible for deploying an additional $10 million dollars in (debt and equity) aimed at addressing access to capital challenges facing minority and women owned businesses.

Before joining philanthropy, Mr. Escoffery served as the Deputy Director of the New Orleans Neighborhood Development Collaborative (NONDC), a community organizing, planning and housing development organization, focused on post-Hurricane Katrina neighborhood revitalization. As an urban planner with over 15+ years of experience, Shawn has been responsible for designing workforce development programs serving lower income communities, developing financing strategies for affordable housing developments and coordinating resident engagement efforts. Throughout his career, he has managed projects and people effectively to produce positive outcomes for communities.

Shawn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and English Literature from Rutgers University and a Master’s of City and Regional Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a concentration in Housing, Community, and Economic Development. He also holds certificates in Communications and International Relations, Urban Redevelopment and Effective Leadership from Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pennsylvania and Duke University, respectively.