Bio
Caren Yanis is the principal of Croland Consulting, a philanthropic advisory firm where she helps families and foundations navigate the philanthropic landscape. She is a member of the Spertus faculty and the Private Wealth Management Program at the University of Chicago’s Booth School.
From 2009 to 2016, Yanis was President of Crown Family Philanthropies, guiding strategic initiatives and prior to that, from 2000 to 2009, she was Executive Director of Oprah Winfrey’s philanthropies when the Oprah Winfrey Show was on the air. She works closely with celebrities and athletes and is a frequent keynote speaker at wealth management and estate planning conferences.
Yanis is a field builder. She teaches philanthropy in the Private Wealth Management Certificate Program at the University of Chicago’s Booth School, is an advisory board member of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute and was a founding director of Leading Edge, a group formed to build organizational strength in nonprofit agencies. She was formerly on the boards of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, The Women’s Philanthropy Institute, and Wise Giving Alliance, and she chaired the Poetry Foundation Board, which received a major bequest from Ruth Lilly in 2002.
More about Caren Yanis can be found on her website, www.crolandconsulting.com.