The Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation has announced a new chapter in its leadership. Dr. John Brothers stepped in as the Foundation’s new President and CEO on December 1, succeeding Teri A Hansen, who leaves behind a powerful legacy of more than a decade as the start-up CEO and a 30-plus-year career in philanthropic leadership. Brothers brings a distinguished record of philanthropic leadership, most recently as President of the T. Rowe Price Foundation and T. Rowe Price Charitable, where he guided more than $750 million in assets and oversaw $150 million in annual giving. His work has spanned global partnerships and grassroots community initiatives, reflecting a deep commitment to equity, trust and impact in philanthropy. From his own past personal challenges to his college football days, his leadership approach and his aspirations for his role as President and CEO, Brothers opened up to SRQ Magazine, giving readers a chance to get to know him on a deeper level.

You’re stepping into a role that follows a decade of remarkable growth and influence under Teri Hansen’s leadership. What do you see as your priorities as you take the helm?  DR. JOHN BROTHERS The most important thing that I can do is to be a really good listener and put my foot in a lot of different places in the community. I did that today. I'm going to do it tomorrow and I look forward to doing that for many days, months and years to come—I'm excited. I  had the best jerk chicken and beef patty from this Jamaican place today—that was awesome and so every day I'm trying to insert myself in little nooks and crannies in the community and enjoy everything it has to offer, it's just been wonderful so far.

Your background bridges both corporate philanthropy and community-based work. How has that dual perspective shaped your approach to leading a foundation with deep local roots but broad aspirations? I've always been rooted in the communities that I've been fortunate enough to work in and so when I was in Baltimore at T. Rowe Price, I ran the corporate foundation very much how I would lead any type of organization and that is to be led by the voices of local residents. The philanthropy at T. Rowe Price is probably going to look in many respects very similar to Barancik—community-based, focused on solving problems that local folks have said are really important to them. I don't view it as much different, although Baltimore is different from Sarasota in many respects, but the way of doing work and one of the reasons why I thought Barancik was so amazing is that they work very much in the same ways that I do.

Trust-based philanthropy is a recurring theme in your career. How do you define it in practice? When I was at T. Rowe Price, we were doing that type of work before the trust-based philanthropy movement was a movement and so it's always been part of the way that I've worked. Trust-based philanthropy is about creating an environment in which both community folks and philanthropists can look eye to eye together and work on advancing the self-determination of local communities, working on issues and problems together. As you can imagine, heading up philanthropy, whether it's Barancik, T. Rowe Price or otherwise, my jokes were way funnier than they really are and I was way smarter than I really am, and that is because there's an inherent power dynamic behind philanthropy. From my perspective, and I think a lot of folks who are involved in the trust-based movement, it's about breaking down that power dynamic. In my experience, philanthropy is just much better when you work every day to see eye to eye with the community that you're in and, in fact, are led by them. I played offensive lineman in college—I was a center. No one sees the center-—the quarterback or maybe the wide receiver or the running back is what you see. For me, philanthropy is like an offensive lineman—we shouldn't be seen. That should be the folks that are on the ground that are doing the work every day and philanthropy should be behind them using their resources and all the other things that philanthropy has to propel their sails forward.

What does true compassion in philanthropy look like to you? I have grown up receiving soup from the ladle, meaning I've been homeless. I've gotten soup from the ladle. I've given soup from the ladle. I've managed soup ladlers. I've researched soup ladling and I've funded soup ladling. I've been at all different avenues of that and I can point to you the times in which someone came in and told me they knew more about why I was poor than I did. That is not compassion. Compassion is just sitting side by side with others, not having judgment, working with them to help them get to the next level on their own steam and providing support to them to get there. We are all glasses half empty and I think if we can help each other be the best that we can be, that's great.

You helped grow the T. Rowe Price Foundation’s assets from $125 million to over $750 million. Beyond the numbers, what are you most proud of from that chapter of your career? One thing I'm pretty proud of is that T. Rowe Price created a style of philanthropy, and over 300 companies worldwide came to us to learn about and emulate our model. Some of that was trust-based, but most of that was about the way we related to the community and did our work in the community. We did a lot of really innovative stuff, and I could speak all day about some really exciting initiatives, but at the root level, years from now, what people will be talking about in terms of what we created was a way of doing work that other companies wanted to emulate. A good example of that is after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. We had 20 Minneapolis companies that reached out to us to say, “We heard about the work that you did in Baltimore after the unrest, and we want to better our relationships with our neighbors.” We didn't put out reports that said, “Hey, look at us.” We just worked really hard at how we approached community, and the word got out that we were making a difference. We also created some amazing public-private partnerships, which were best-in-class around the country in terms of bringing multiple stakeholders together around really difficult issues that had never been won before, and that ultimately we won. I was the chair of two great public-private efforts that tackled really difficult issues that brought a lot of folks together. We worked really hard, had difficult conversations, and ultimately, we were able to solve some very tough problems. I’m pretty proud of that.

Your early career began as a case manager working directly with individuals and families. How does that experience continue to influence your leadership style? I chose to work in the communities where I had received similar services not long before, so being a case manager or working directly with young people, those were my neighbors. Helping a young person with their homework after school or helping a family find services were areas that I knew well, because I had been in their shoes not that long before. I have so many valuable experiences, so many lessons learned, not only in my personal path, but also in working in that regard, that inform me every day. I think philanthropy sometimes can be two or three degrees removed. We're funding a group, and so we don't necessarily see Marvin on the ground, who has just lost his job. For me, I always see Marvin. Any philanthropy I'm involved in—anytime we're approving a grant or we're working with the board on figuring out what grants we're going to give—I always relate to families on the ground. I think what's most valuable for me is touching on those experiences all the time. I've run a nonprofit, so I know, oftentimes nonprofit leaders will come to meet, and they're wearing their Sunday best, and they pitch you on everything. These issues are hard, and so I want them to be able to be really honest and talk about the challenges they're going through because I've been there and I know it not only as a person running a nonprofit but also as a person receiving services from a nonprofit. I think those perspectives help me in my work as a philanthropist every day.

You’ve really earned the right to talk the talk—because you’ve literally walked the walk. I hope so. Imagine if you're giving out millions and millions of dollars. People aren't going to tell you your flaws and for me at T. Rowe Price and hopefully here at Barancik, I want our community partners to say, “John, you really messed that one up, or you're not really listening really well.” We need to create enough trust that allows community members to be able to do that at any given point in time and so I want someone to be able to tell me because I don't ever get offended—that's, unless you insult my mom or something like that—I don't really get angry. We're in really tough times. There's lots of divisiveness going on. Poverty is not easy. Affordable housing is not easy. Education for all is not easy. So, we got to be able to say, “I don't agree with you on that and let's talk about that.” These issues are marathon issues; they’re not going to be solved in one day and so we need to really be able to have folks push their thumb in our side whenever they need to, including philanthropy.

As you inherit the Barancik legacy, you also have the opportunity to shape its next chapter. What kind of legacy do you hope to leave when future generations look back on your tenure? The legacy has always got to be steeped in the values of Chuck and Margery. For me, my northstar is to ensure that I am walking the values that they led and that it is steeped in kindness and ensuring that it's the philanthropy that they have bestowed on generations of folks in this area, that we are going to be solving real problems and that it's going to be done in such a way that it's always about the folks on the ground. From a strategy standpoint, I'm not looking to do anything strategically today other than to be a good listener and to walk in the values that the Baranciks had set and hopefully have a number of people that will let me know if I'm doing that and when I don't, push me in the right direction to do that. 

On a personal level, what inspires you most about this new chapter —and what do you hope the community learns about you as both a leader and a person? I have Irish skin and so I am probably going to keep suntan lotion companies in business entirely on my own. I've been to the beach several times in my few weeks here and it's been a blessing. I've become active over the last several years—I lost about 150 pounds—and this is such a great community for being active. I love the arts and this is also a great community for that. Sarasota scratches a lot of itches for me personally, so I'm really excited about that. And obviously, taking over for Teri and walking in her footsteps and trying to fill her heels, so to say, is a really big task and I think I'm just going to try to lean on a lot of people to help me get to the right place. Everybody has just been so accommodating, and it speaks to the kindness and the warmth of this community that it's been like that thus far. And I assume it will be like that in the future.