Shelly Foston brings over two decades of experience in strategic program management, facilitation, and education to her role as Assistant Finance Manager at the Rockefeller Center. In this position, she supports financial operations, grant and contract management, budgeting, and administrative systems that enable the Center's academic and public policy mission.
Prior to joining Rockefeller, Foston spent nearly two decades leading complex cross-sector initiatives focused on climate policy, sustainable development, and philanthropic strategy. As a senior mediator and program manager at Meridian Institute, she facilitated major international agreements, including a major forests and climate partnership announced at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, and supported foundations such as Packard, Gates, Ford, and Rockefeller in designing and evaluating large-scale strategic and operational initiatives.
Most recently, Shelly brought real-world context and critical thinking into the classroom while teaching high school government, economics, and geography in Oxfordshire, England and in New Hampshire. She holds degrees from Yale University (BA), the University of Michigan (MBA/MS), and a postgraduate teaching certification from Oxford Brookes University. She lives in Cornish, NH where she is a local elected official and manages a small farm with her mother, husband, and children.