Neel Hajra

Neel (Neelav) Hajra is chief operating officer and vice president for community investment at the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, a position he’s held since November 2010. He oversees the foundation's community grantmaking, investment & finance activities, and internal operations. He also leads two of the foundation's key community leadership initiatives – coordinated funding, and cultural economic development.

In September 2014, he was named the foundation’s next president and CEO, effective Jan. 1, 2015. He will replace Cheryl Elliott, who is retiring at the end of 2014.

From 2008-2010 Hajra was CEO at the Ann Arbor-based Nonprofit Enterprise at Work, known as the NEW Center, after serving as COO from 2004-2008. He’d held other roles at NEW – including director of technology and development from 2003-2004 and manager of technology programs from 2001-2002. From 1998 to 2001 he was a corporate attorney at Ford Motor Company.

Hajra also is a lecturer in public policy at the University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, where he teaches about management and policy in the nonprofit sector. He is co-chair of the Council of Michigan Foundations’ Arts Affinity Group, and a member of the council’s public policy committee. He’s also a member of the finance committee for Ann Arbor SPARK, and serves on the national advisory committee for the Monitor Institute.

Hajra earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and a law degree, both from the University of Michigan. He was born at the University of Michigan Hospital and grew up in Ann Arbor. He’s the father of two boys, Ian and Vaughn, and lives in Pittsfield Township, just south of Ann Arbor.