Nicole Sherard-Freeman became President & CEO of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan in January 2025. Since the Community Foundation’s inception, it has distributed more than $1.4 billion through approximately 95,000 grants, mostly to nonprofit organizations throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Washtenaw, St. Clair, and Livingston counties.
Nicole joined the Community Foundation in July 2023, as Chief Operating Officer, with responsibility for donor services, finance, grantmaking services and initiatives. She co-led the development of the organization’s 10-year strategic plan.
Before joining the Community Foundation, Sherard-Freeman was Group Executive of Jobs, Economy & Detroit at Work, and Executive Director of the Mayor’s Workforce Development Board for Mayor Mike Duggan, City of Detroit.
Sherard-Freeman joined the City of Detroit in 2019 as the Executive Director of Workforce Development and Detroit at Work. Prior to that she served as the President & CEO of Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation (DESC). From 2014 to 2018 Sherard-Freeman was Managing Director for Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, a national research-to-action non-profit that most notably led JPMorgan Chase’s New Skills at Work portfolio in Detroit. She also held leadership positions in banking, global business-to-business services, and was a successful entrepreneur in Metro Detroit for three years.
Born and raised in Detroit, Sherard-Freeman is a proud graduate of the Detroit Public School system. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and has completed graduate studies in Organizational Management and Development at Fielding Graduate University.
Sherard-Freeman serves on Board of Directors for the Downtown Detroit Partnership, as well as the national board of WorkRise: An Urban Institute Initiative. She previously served on the boards of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Workforce Advisory Council, Governor’s Workforce Development Board, Schoolcraft College Foundation, and Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, . She is a senior advisor to the Ford School of Public Policy – Poverty Solutions initiative at the University of Michigan.
Sherard-Freeman has been recognized for her leadership, including Michigan Chronicle’s Women of Excellence and Power 50; Crain’s Detroit Business’s Notable Women in Non-Profits, 50 Names to Know in Government, and 100 Most Influential Women in Michigan; and Axios Detroit’s 2022 Power Players.