Ashley Swearengin is president and chief executive officer of the Central Valley Community Foundation, a charitable foundation serving the six counties of Central California and providing over $110 million in funding to more than 650 community benefit organizations over the past decade. Before joining the Foundation, she served as mayor of Fresno from 2009 through 2016. As mayor, she focused on improving distressed neighborhoods, revitalizing the downtown and urban core, promoting business and job growth, securing the city’s long-term water supply, addressing chronic homelessness, and stabilizing the city’s financial position. Before becoming mayor, Swearengin led a number of community and economic development initiatives in the Central Valley, including the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, Fresno State’s Office of Community and Economic Development, and the Central Valley Business Incubator. 

In addition to her board position at the Urban Institute, Swearengin sits on numerous boards of organizations dedicated to economic empowerment and educational attainment in the Central Valley and throughout California, including the College Futures Foundation, Secure Water Future, James B. McClatchy Foundation, and New America. She is also the cochair of California Forward. Swearengin holds BS and MBA degrees from California State University, Fresno.