Linda Speed exemplifies the importance of a life of service in her role as the President & CEO of the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana. She has spent nearly 25 years in the community foundation field and has extensive experience in the nonprofit sector. She has served as the Vice President of Development & Stewardship for the Community Foundation of Louisville, Vice President of Gift and Trust Administration for the Presbyterian Church (USA) Foundation in Jeffersonville, and Director of the Samuel L. Greenebaum Public Service Program at the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. She is a former litigation attorney with the Louisville law firm of Frost Brown Todd.
During her 15-year tenure with the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana, Speed has seen the Foundation's assets grow from $16 million to over $160 million. Her work with individual donors and their professional advisors has led to the creation of hundreds of charitable funds that support the interests of those donors here in our region and elsewhere. The Foundation's grantmaking – over $6 million each year from all funds – supports local nonprofit organizations and also important local and regional projects and causes. Under her leadership, the Foundation has become a trusted community leader for projects and initiatives that improve the quality of life for all residents of Clark and Floyd counties.
Speed has extensive community leadership experience that includes serving on the Louisville Zoo Foundation Board and the Governing Board of Align Southern Indiana. She is a member and serves on the executive committees of the Estate Planning Council of Metro Louisville and the Southern Indiana Estate Planning Council, where she is the past president. She is a member and Past President of the Charitable Gift Planners of Kentuckiana, and she is the Past Chair of the Indiana Philanthropy Alliance board of directors. In 2021, she received the Duke Energy Kevin Hammersmith Community Leader Award presented by One Southern Indiana's ONCE Awards. In 2024, she was a recipient of the Louisville Business First Enterprising Women Awards.
Speed received her B.S. in Agronomy from the University of Kentucky and her J.D. from the Vanderbilt University School of Law. She lives in Jeffersonville with her husband Tom. They are the parents of Savannah and Marc (Araceli) and proud grandparents of Declan, Cayden and Sofia.