Ellen H. Block

Ellen Block is a registered occupational therapist, small business owner, and an active philanthropist engaged in a wide range of societal and community-related issues locally, nationally and globally. She is Chair of the Board of Overseers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, and serves on the Board of Overseers of the Heller School of Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and the Boards of the University of Chicago Medical Center, the Toy Industry Foundation, the Steering Committee of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, and the American Jewish Joint (JDC) Distribution Committee. She has also served as Chair of the Hasbro Children’s Foundation, a director of the Taylor Institute Think Tank on Urban Issues, and co-Founder and Chair of the September 11th Children’s Fund. In recognition of her philanthropic leadership, Ms. Block was named one of “100 Women Making a Difference” by Today’s Chicago Woman magazine, and has received many awards including the Children’s Aid Society’s Charles Loring Brace Award, the National Hannah Solomon Award, and the 2010 TAGIE Humanitarian Award. Ms. Block is a graduate of Tufts University and received an Honorary Doctorate from the Audrey Cohen College for Social Research.