Jerry Fischer

Jerry is President Emeritus of the University of Minnesota Foundation, where he served as president and CEO from 1990-2008, then as Senior Philanthropy Advisor from 2008-2010.  His career includes nearly 20 years with Ford Motor Company and affiliated companies, where he held several positions in the finance offices of Ford, Ford Credit, and Ford of Europe.  In 1985, he became Senior Vice President-Finance for First Bank System (now US Bancorp) in Minneapolis and was appointed Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer in 1986.  Jerry received a BA degree in 1965 from the College of Wooster in Ohio and was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship to attend Yale University Divinity School the following year.  He received an MBA from the University of Michigan in 1968. 

Jerry currently serves as a director of SurModics, Inc. He also does consulting on major gift fundraising and board governance issues for  foundations serving public higher education on behalf of the Association of Governing Boards of American Colleges and Universities (AGB), and for other non-profit organizations.  He also has served on two national advisory panels of the AGB, as well as an advisory panel for CASE.  Jerry is a life trustee and former board chair of the Interlochen Center for the Arts, and continues to serve as immediate past chair and member of the Council of Trustee Advisors.  He also served as a trustee of the College of Wooster and the Dale Warland Singers.

Jerry and his wife, Cathie, live in Wayzata, Minnesota.