Lewis M. Feldstein is president of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation (NHCF), the principal source of venture capital for the state’s nonprofit community. Feldstein worked with the civil rights movements in Mississippi and served for seven years in senior staff positions to New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay. Prior to coming to the Charitable Foundation, Feldstein served as provost of the Antioch/New England Graduate School.

He is a graduate of Brown University and holds a master’s degree in Law and Diplomacy from Tufts University. His singular achievements include a seven-year tenure as the emcee of the International Zucchini Festival, and a stint as wine steward and personal assistant to movie legend John Wayne aboard Wayne’s yacht in the Mediterranean.

Feldstein serves on several boards, including the Board of Directors of the Independent Sector and the National Center for Family Philanthropy. He co-chaired with Robert Putnam the Harvard University three-year Executive Seminar on Civic Engagement in America. With Putnam he is a co-author of Better Together: Restoring the American Community, published in the fall of 2003. He has received six honorary doctorates.

The Concord Monitor selected him as one of the 100 people Who Shaped New Hampshire in the 20th Century, and Business NH Magazine named him one of the ten most influential people in the state.