Pamela Flaherty

Pamela FlahertyPamela P. Flaherty is the former President and CEO of the Citi Foundation and Director of Corporate Citizenship at Citi. During Mrs. Flaherty’s 46-year career at Citi, she held various line and staff roles, including Citicorp’s Senior Human Resources Officer, and Director of Citi’s New York Consumer Retail business.

As leader of Citi Foundation from 2007 to 2015, Mrs. Flaherty led a “more-than-philanthropy” approach to the foundation’s work. This combination of financial support, employee engagement, and innovative grant structuring increased the long-term impact of the Citi Foundation’s investments to promote economic progress focusing on youth and cities. As head of the company’s Citizenship efforts, she encouraged the development of activities where Citi’s businesses can make a difference, including sustainability and the environment. In partnership with Citi’s clients, Citi directed more than $54 billion towards renewable energy and clean technology, exceeding its ten year goal two years early. Citi also reduced its greenhouse gas emissions from operations by 20 percent from a 2005 baseline.

She is the former Chair of the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins University, is an Emeritus Trustee of both Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Medicine. She is currently the Vice Chair of the Board of World Resources Institute and is on the board of The Cooper Union. She is also a member of the New York Green Bank Advisory Committee and a member of the Council on Foreign Affairs.

Mrs. Flaherty is an honors graduate of Smith College and holds a Masters in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

Role: Trustee

Elected to the Board: June 2019

Class Term: 2023

Term Limit: 2027

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.