December 7, 2023

Ben B. Cheney Foundation

Henry Cheney

Brad Cheney

Tucci

The Ben B. Cheney Foundation has appointed Erika Tucci as executive director. She will succeed Brad Cheney, who is retiring from the role at the end of December after spending more than 20 years leading the foundation. Cheney will remain as the foundation board chair. The Ben B. Cheney Foundation makes grants in Washington, Oregon and Northern California communities where the family's lumber mills operated. Since 1975, the foundation has awarded more than 6,000 grants to over 1,500 organizations. Tucci has served as senior program officer for the foundation since 2019, and she will be the first female to lead the nonprofit. She is active on several nonprofit boards and committees, including chairing the governor's Serve Washington Commission. During the pandemic, Tucci's ties to the nonprofit sector led her to initiate the Pierce County Daily Report. The effort provided coordinated human services information to policymakers, nonprofit leaders and funders making critical intervention decisions. Tucci previously led community affairs at Tacoma Public Utilities, where she instituted a leadership program encouraging volunteerism and service. Cheney, the son of the foundation's founder, will continue to provide leadership on the foundation board and on other local boards and committees, including the Boys & Girls Club of South Puget Sound and the Baseball Club of Tacoma. The board now includes three third-generation family members, and Cheney's son Henry Cheney will join the board in December. Henry Cheney played and coached baseball for the University of Portland while getting his undergraduate degree and then a master's in nonprofit management. He is the assistant athletic director at Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma.