LISA SCHROEDER | PHOTO COURTESY THE PITTSBURGH FOUNDATION

Lisa Schroeder, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Foundation for six years and the first woman to serve in this role, is retiring next year.

A foundation announcement said the board of directors will be launching a national search to replace her. She plans to leave by March 2026.

During Schroeder’s tenure, the foundation’s assets increased from approximately $1.01 billion to $1.5 billion, according to the release. Last year, the foundation awarded nearly $67 million in grants and brought in $87 million in donations; both are record highs.

“Lisa’s legacy is both powerful and enduring,” Jack McGinley, the foundation’s chairman of the board, said in a release. “She has advanced the foundation’s mission with unshakeable integrity, bold vision and a deep sense of responsibility to all communities in the Pittsburgh region.”

According to a ranking by the Pittsburgh Business Times in February based on grant payout, the 80-year-old Pittsburgh Foundation is the fifth largest foundation in the Pittsburgh area. The largest is the Richard King Mellon Foundation, which at that time had assets of $3.34 billion and distributed $113 million in grants, followed by the Hillman Family Foundations, Heinz Endowments and PNC Foundation.

“Leading The Pittsburgh Foundation has been the greatest honor of my professional life,” said Schroeder, a Baltimore native who had led the nonprofit Riverlife in the Steel City from 2002 to 2015. “Together with our board, staff, donors and community partners, we have advanced equity, invested in innovation and worked to strengthen the region’s nonprofits. I am deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished, and I will leave confident that the foundation is well positioned for the future.”

Earlier this year, she orchestrated the move of the foundation’s offices from PPG Plaza to 912 Fort Duquesne Blvd. Among her many achievements, she led the creation of the Emergency Action Fund in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It raised more than $9.38 million in a public campaign for immediate community relief.

As head of the Pittsburgh Foundation, she followed Maxwell King, who served in as CEO for five years. Before joining the foundation, she returned to her hometown to serve as president and CEO of Baltimore’s Parks & People Foundation. Her “Every Kid Deserves a Park” program led to construction of family-friendly parks serving more than 60,000 people in struggling neighborhoods.