Joel Wittenberg

Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Joel Wittenberg is vice president and chief investment officer for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. In this role, he supports the foundation efforts to promote thriving children, working families, and equitable communities. Wittenberg serves on the foundation’s executive council and is responsible for both Kellogg Foundation and Kellogg Foundation Trust investment portfolios. The foundation is the fourth largest in the U.S. with more than $7 billion in assets. Prior to joining the foundation, Wittenberg spent nine years as corporate vice president at the Kellogg Company, serving as treasurer as well as heading up investor relations. Before joining the Kellogg Company, he was vice president and treasurer with Armstrong World Industries in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and held several key treasury roles with the Dow Chemical Company of Midland, Michigan. Wittenberg earned his Bachelor of Science in accounting and finance at the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management at Michigan State University, and his Master of Business Administration from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal innovator and entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life. The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special attention is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti.