Sally Blount
President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Sally Blount is the President and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, the largest human services provider in the Midwest. Operating at a scale of $200 million, Charities’ serves thousands daily and touches nearly 400,000 lives annually. Dr. Blount also sits on the faculty and holds the Michael L. Nemmers Chair in Strategy at the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where she is a proud alumna and served as Dean (2010-2018).
Blount currently sits on the boards of Abbott Laboratories (ABT-NYSE) and the Joyce Foundation. Some of her former board seats include Ulta Beauty (ULTA-NASDQ), the Aspen Institute Program on Business and Society, the Economic Club of Chicago, the Commercial Club of Chicago, Misericordia Home, and the Finance Council for the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Dr. Blount began service at Charities in early 2020 at the request of Cardinal Blasé Cupich. During her first three years in office, Blount led the organization through a three-phased, capabilities-building process in which its board oversight, internal reporting structure, program offerings, and fundraising were streamlined and simplified. In 2023, the Board approved Vision 2030 – a 7-year, strategic plan designed to assure Catholic Charities’ vitality and impact as a cornerstone institution for decades to come.
Dr. Blount is an internationally recognized thought leader and award-winning teacher in organizational leadership, growth, and renewal. Blount has been regularly featured in news outlets such as the Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Forbes, Economist, and Fortune. In 2012, she co-chaired the World Economic Forum on Latin America, and in 2017, she was named one of LinkedIn’s top voices in Management.
Dr. Blount holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the J.L. Kellogg School at Northwestern University and a B.S.E. from the Engineering School at Princeton University. Prior to returning to Kellogg to serve as Dean in 2010, she was Dean of New York University’s Stern College of Business, Vice Dean of the Stern School of Business (2004-2010) and a senior member of the faculty (2001-2010). Her first faculty appointment as at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago (1992-2001). She began her career as an associate at the Boston Consulting Group.