Emily Tow is the president and vice chair of The Tow Foundation, a family foundation that supports visionary leaders and effective organizations working to expand access to opportunity and advance well-being. Emily joined the Foundation’s Board of Directors in 1990, two years after its inception, and has served as president since 1995.
Under Emily’s leadership, what began as a way for her family to give back to the community has grown into a well-established philanthropic institution with nearly $50 million in annual giving and a reputation for forging deep, enduring partnerships with grantees. As president, Emily advances the strategic direction of the Foundation while engaging family members, the Board and staff in thoughtful, mission-driven philanthropy.
Emily’s leadership across the Foundation’s impact areas—including arts and culture, civic engagement, higher education, justice, and medicine and public health—reaches beyond her day-to-day responsibilities. She brings a national perspective to work through her service and participation in a range of local, state, and national committees and coalitions. She currently serves on the board of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and on advisory councils and committees for American Theatre Wing, The Just Trust, PBS FRONTLINE, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Boldly Go Philanthropy.
Emily speaks frequently, locally and nationally, about the Foundation’s strategic vision, its belief in advocacy as a driver of social change, and the role family philanthropy can play in advancing the public good. She has received numerous honors, including the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy’s John H. Filer Award for leadership in promoting private action for the public good and the Fairfield County Community Foundation’s Anne S. Leonhardt Award for philanthropic vision in advancing women’s economic progress and equity.
Emily earned her B.A. in history from Barnard College and received an honorary doctorate of criminal justice from University of New Haven.