Cone Health Foundation President Reflects on 16 Years, Health Equity Work

Susan Shumaker spent more than four decades working inside health systems before arriving at Cone Health Foundation in 2009. She leaves at the end of March 2026 as one of Greensboro's most consequential philanthropic voices, having overseen more than $82 million in grants to the city's health-related nonprofits and steered the foundation through a fundamental rethinking of how community philanthropy should work.

Shumaker has served as president of Cone Health Foundation since 2009, and she previously served as president of Annie Penn Hospital in Reidsville, North Carolina, for twenty years before joining the foundation. She reflected publicly on that full arc of service in a wide-ranging interview published March 25, 2026, one day before her tenure officially closes.

"There are so many powerful, dedicated leaders in our community who will carry this work forward," she said. "I truly believe that if we continue to listen to and invest in people who understand the root of the issues that impact their communities, we will be able to realize our vision: to live in a Greensboro where health inequities no longer exist."

The foundation she leaves behind carries significant financial weight in Guilford County. Since its inception in 1997, the foundation has awarded more than $110 million in the greater Greensboro area in grants and contributions. It continues to support legacy grantees in its historical priority areas of access to health care, adolescent pregnancy prevention, HIV, and substance use and mental health.

The depth of need in Greensboro has always framed those investments. Significant disparities, including racial, ethnic, and education level, exist within these and many other public health measures in the city. Nearly one in five Greensboro residents lives in poverty, a rate higher than both state and national averages, and nearly all community-based organizations surveyed in the Greensboro Community Report said they primarily serve Black communities.

That report became a cornerstone of Shumaker's final chapter at the foundation. Guided by a belief in community wisdom, the foundation sought community input through a series of stakeholder conversations starting in 2022 to shape its strategic direction, and those learnings helped guide a strategic pivot. In 2023, the foundation adopted the tagline "Driven by equity. Guided by community." to signal the shift formally.

Board Chair Kristen Wither Yntema credited Shumaker directly with driving that transformation. "Her leadership style is grounded in humility and built on respect for community wisdom. Susan asks questions and listens deeply, believing the best solutions come by embracing collaborative approaches. Her work has been supported and inspired by the foundation's diverse and trusted board and staff," Yntema wrote in the foundation's October 2025 retirement announcement.

Medicaid expansion remained one of Shumaker's most persistent advocacy priorities throughout her tenure. For several years, Cone Health Foundation was a vocal advocate for expanding Medicaid in North Carolina, and Shumaker spoke directly about the impact of expansion and the future of the foundation's work. The foundation commissioned a study alongside Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust assessing the impact on all 100 North Carolina counties of not expanding Medicaid; the nonpartisan study was prepared by researchers at George Washington University. Even when political headwinds made that work appear futile, Shumaker held the line: "The work of philanthropy is privileged work. We must not squander the opportunity to stand for others when the odds seem overwhelming. Funding advocacy and working to bring about change is a strategy for hope, tempered by reality."

She framed that moral stance around a quote Yntema invoked at a recent board meeting, attributed to Martin Luther King Jr.: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." Shumaker added: "That's where we are focused at Cone Health Foundation."

As she prepared to step away, it was with mixed emotions that she made her retirement public, but the word she kept returning to was gratitude, for the partners, the community members, and the work itself. In 2023, thanks to invaluable community feedback, the foundation broadened its focus to include additional factors that drive well-being beyond access to health care, including healthy food, education, safe and healthy housing, and economic mobility a legacy of expansion that will outlast her presidency.