Fred Davie

Frederick Davie joined Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York on August 15, 2011 as Executive Vice President. In this capacity, Mr. Davie is the institution’s chief administrative officer and serves as an advisor to the President for the structure and administration of the executive office, strategic planning, institutional advancement, and vision implementation. He also serves as the administrative center for all the work of the President, coordinating the efforts of executive office staff and senior staff in relation to the President. He came to Union from the Arcus Foundation, where he served as Interim Executive Director and Senior Director of the Social Justice and LGBT Programs. In this capacity Mr. Davie managed the Foundation’s $20 million grant making budget and supervised the implementation of the Foundation’s funding strategy for social justice and LGBT programs. Mr. Davie served on President Barack Obama’s transition team, performing agency reviews for faith-based and community initiatives, and accepted an appointment by President Obama to the White House Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. As a member of the White House Council, Mr. Davie provided counsel on strategies for more effective partnerships between federal agencies and community and faith organizations. Mr. Davie provided leadership for the inclusion of non-traditional families and marginalized populations in policy formation. Mr Davie is acting chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in December 2017. CCRB is an agency established by the City of New York with civilian oversight of the New York City Police Department, the nation’s largest municipal law enforcement agency. Mr. Davie is also a member of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Clergy Advisory Council (CAC). He is co-convenor of the CAC’s public safety committee, with a focus on community safety and improving police-community relations. Mr. Davie has extensive experience in senior-level roles in philanthropic and social and economic justice organizations, including Public/Private Ventures and the Ford Foundation. At Public/Private Ventures, Mr. Davie served as President and CEO, promoted from Senior Vice President. As SVP, Mr. Davie developed a model national program for the successful re-entry of former offenders, and delivered a White House keynote address on the same in 2007. As a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, Mr. Davie developed a national program to support local faith-based and community juvenile justice programs to reduce rates of incarceration and recidivism. Mr. Davie has also served in a number of leadership roles in public administration for the City of New York, including Deputy Borough President of Manhattan (1994-1997), and Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Community and Public Affairs (1993-1994). Mr. Davie’s community and civic engagement work includes executive-level positions with New York City Mission Society, Brooklyn Ecumenical Cooperatives and the Presbytery of New York City. Mr. Davie serves on the Board of Directors of the Interfaith Youth Core. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Interfaith Assembly for Homelessness and Housing. He is also serves on the Board of Directors of the Soulsville Foundation in Memphis, TN. A Presbyterian minister in the Presbytery of New York City, Mr. Davie has served the national Presbyterian Church, the NYC presbytery and local congregations in various volunteer capacities. Mr. Davie holds a B.A. in Political Science from Greensboro College ’78, Dean’s List and the Harold H. Hutson Award; and an M.Div. from Yale University’s Divinity School ’82, Benjamin E. Mays Fellow of The Fund for Theological Education and President of Yale Black Seminarians. He is also a recipient of Yale Divinity School’s Distinguished Alumnus Award for Community Service. Mr. Davie was also a Charles H Revson Fellow at Columbia University, ’90.