Mary Jo Meisner Is Leaving the Boston Foundation

Photo by Knight Foundation on Flickr/Creative Commons

Mary Jo Meisner, a veritable power broker in the city’s philanthropic and public policy circles, is parting ways with the Boston Foundation, as first reported by the Boston Business Journal.

Meisner is stepping down from her role as senior executive effective March 18 to pursue “local and international interests,” and possibly write a book. Her total compensation was $337,000 in fiscal year 2013, according to tax filings.

“It is with mixed emotions that I wish my dear friend Mary Jo well as she leaves the Boston Foundation after nearly 15 years of significant impact and service,” president Paul Grogan wrote to Foundation staff Thursday, the BBJ reports. Founded in 1915, the Boston Foundation is the largest public charity in New England.

Meisner, who spent 25 years in the newspaper business before joining the Foundation in 2001, played a large role in the doomed bid to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to Boston. The Foundation commissioned a report from the UMass Boston Donohue Institute on the projected financial impact that Boston 2024 would have on the region. The report, which anticipated the key points of contention the bid would face in a scant few months, received criticism for intentionally glossing over how local charities would be affected.

Emails obtained via public records request revealed, among other insights into the bid’s early machinations, that Meisner was at one time the reigning March Madness bracket champion at the Foundation.