Lori J. Bertman

Lori J. Bertman is president and CEO of the Baton Rouge-based Irene W. and C.B. Pennington Foundation, Louisiana’s largest private family foundation. She is the co-founder and board chair emeritus of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP).

Lori is widely recognized as a noted expert and innovative thinker in the field of disaster philanthropy. Following Hurricane Katrina, Lori organized local and national philanthropic resources to raise more than $40 million in funds for recovery. She was not new to the field: Lori founded Bertman + Associates, a philanthropy and fund development consulting firm in 2001 and, prior to that, she created the first donor services department for the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, where she managed more than 150 donor-advised funds. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a master’s degree from Louisiana State University.