About Us

The Steve Fund's Mission

The Steve Fund is a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the mental health and emotional well-being of young people, particularly those from underserved and under-resourced communities.

We leverage a dynamic combination of partnerships, research, and community-aligned resources to support young people during key moments of growth and transition — from adolescence into higher education, through college, and into the workforce. 

Together with our partners in higher education, business, research, and mental health, we promote strategies and programs to build understanding, provide support, and improve outcomes so that all young people can attain personal, academic, and career success.

OUR PILLARS

1. Transform environments to improve outcomes.

We leverage the power of collaboration, convening, and communication to transform environments in schools, colleges, and workplaces, improving outcomes and advancing the national conversation on mental health and well-being. 

2. Provide resources directly to young people and families.

Together with our partners, we increase access to and deploy community-aligned resources, learning opportunities, and skill-building so that every young person can attain personal, academic, and career success and achieve their full potential. 

3: Shape the field and advance the national conversation.

Through our research, thought leadership, and communications, we inform the deliberations and decisions of leaders, communities, and institutions as they seek to prioritize the mental health and emotional well-being of young people at home, in higher education, and in the workplace.

Our Board Members

Byron D. Clift Breland
Ph.D.

Chair Chancellor

Michael Owens
CPA

Treasurer Managing Director

Jacqueline Looney
Ed.D.

Secretary Senior Associate Dean, Retired

David C. Henderson
MD

Professor and Chair of Psychiatry

Carlota Ocampo
Ph.D.

Provost

Dozene Guishard
Ph.D.

Director, 99th Street Demonstration Program

Alexandra Williams

Chief of Staff

Evan Rose

President

Gordon Bell
CFA

CEO

Valerie Bell
J.D., M.P.A.

President and Chair of the Board, Retired

Stephanie Bell-Rose
J.D., M.P.A.

Ex-Officio Member President stephanie@stevefund.org

Stephanie Bell-Rose is a corporate, philanthropy and governance professional. From 2010 to 2020, she served as a senior managing director at TIAA, a Fortune 100 financial services company, where she led the firm’s thought leadership organization charged with conducting economic research and supporting organizational effectiveness of education and charitable institutions. She chaired the company’s Thought Leadership Governance Council and served on the firm’s Enterprise Leadership Group and the Management Committee of the institutional financial services division.

Prior to her appointment at TIAA, Bell-Rose was a managing director at Goldman Sachs in the office of the CEO and founding president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation for ten years, overseeing that organization’s international philanthropy initiatives. Prior to this, Bell-Rose served for eleven years as legal counsel and program officer for public affairs at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, where she headed the foundation’s legal office and led grant programs in education, economics and public policy in the US and abroad.

stephanie@stevefund.org

Stephanie Bell-Rose
J.D., M.P.A.

Ex-Officio Member President
The Steve Fund

Reggie Van Lee

Executive Partner and Managing Director

Sonia Chessen

Senior Advisor to the Maryland Secretary of Health
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The Steve Fund
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