Chair
Dr. Paula P. Grisanti
Dr. Grisanti received her D.M.D. from the University of Louisville in 1980 and her MBA from the University of Louisville in 2005. Following several years in private practice, Dr. Grisanti joined Jewish Hospital Healthcare Services as a member of their management team, developing the Department of Patient Relations and serving as V.P. and startup Administrator for the Heart and Lung Institute, now the Rudd Heart and Lung Center. She is a veteran of several civic and professional boards and the mother of 3.
Secretary / Treasurer
C. Dennis Riggs
Mr. Riggs has been recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in the community foundation field. He served two terms on the board of the national Council on Foundations, and two terms as national chair of the community foundation field. In 2005, he was one of five U.S. community foundation leaders appointed as a Fellow of the Transatlantic Community Foundation Fellowship, an exchange program created by a partnership of the King Baudouin Foundation of Belgium and the United States, and The German Marshall Fund of the United States. Read More
John M. Cranor, III
John M. Cranor III has served on the NFCTR board since 2008. From 2003 to 2008, Mr. Cranor served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the New College Foundation, affiliated with the New College of Florida in Sarasota. He also served on the New College of Florida Board of Trustees, as an appointee of former Governor Jeb Bush, from 2001-2007. During his tenure, the Foundation saw a growth in its endowment from $32 million to $42 million and generated $30 million of support for New College and its Foundation. From 1996 to 1999, Mr. Cranor served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Long John Silver's Restaurants, Inc. From 1989 to 1994, Mr. Cranor was President and Chief Executive Officer of KFC Corporation.
Mr. Michael Grisanti
Mr. Grisanti is a private investor in Louisville, Kentucky and serves as advisor to a number of restaurant development companies. He has served as Chairman of the Board of the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau since 2006. He was a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business in 1980, Chairman of the National Restaurant Association in 1987, Chairman of the Food Service Management Professional Governing Board (FMP) in 1992, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Education Foundation of the National Restaurant Association in 1993. Mr. Grisanti has also been inducted into Nation’s Restaurant News Fine Dining Hall of Fame and is the recipient of Restaurant & Institutions prestigious Ivy Award. He was named HRTM Alumnus of the Year by Denver University and was awarded an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Business Administration by Johnson & Wales University in 1988. He has also received the Alumni Association Award for Professional Achievement from Denver University and the Ben O’Connor Housing Award from New Directions Housing Corporation. Mr. Grisanti is a 1973 graduate of Denver University with a B.S. in Business Administration.
Mr. Bruce Wolff
Mr. Wolff is a lawyer who practices in the healthcare area, with particular emphasis on health policy, health care transactions and strategic planning, and non-profit institutions. He started in private law practice in New York City as a corporate lawyer concentrating on mergers and acquisitions, as well as the representation of non-profit health and educational organizations. In 1977, he joined Secretary Joseph Califano at the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare as a Special Assistant and later as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislation. Since returning to private practice in 1980, he has run the New York City office of a large law firm with a significant health practice, served as the general counsel for Aetna's health and group insurance businesses, and is now a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, a national law, consulting and public policy firm. Mr. Wolff has degrees from Amherst College (1965) and Harvard Law School (1968).
Dr. D. Walter Cohen
Dr. Cohen attended the University of Pennsylvania and earned his D.D.S. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine in 1950. Following a research fellowship in pathology and periodontics at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, he returned to Penn. Over the course of a 35-year career, he established the school’s department of periodontics and rose to the position of Dean. Dr. Cohen resigned the Deanship in 1983 and spent a year as the first Presidential Scholar at the University of California at San Francisco. After becoming President of the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1986, Dr. Cohen led the institution’s affiliation with Allegheny Health Education and Research Foundation. In 1993, he became Chancellor of the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Read More