Patricia Mathews

Headshot of Pat Mathews

Northern Virginia Health Foundation

President & CEO

Patricia N. Mathews is the first President & CEO of Northern Virginia Health Foundation, a private foundation created in 2005 whose mission is to improve the health and health care of residents of Northern Virginia, with particular emphasis on the health of the uninsured. In addition to grantmaking, Ms. Mathews’ role at the Foundation includes developing coalitions and collaboratives. She has been instrumental in creating and supporting the Northern Virginia Health Services Coalition, the first multi-jurisdictional coalition of primary care safety net providers in Northern Virginia. She has also been a guiding force behind the creation of the Northern Virginia Oral Health Safety Net Coalition.  Under Ms. Mathews’ leadership, the first Northern Virginia Community Health Indicator report was created and released in 2013, focusing on the health disparities of residents in the region.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Mathews served for more than seven years as Executive Director, Community Relations at Kaiser Permanente—Mid-Atlantic States, where she annually managed more than $12 million in charitable assets and oversaw programs that provided charitable health care to more than 5,000 uninsured adults and children, and helped to develop a strategic framework for addressing the issues of healthy eating/active living in the region.

During her career, Ms. Mathews has held a variety of senior-level positions including Vice President for Programs, National AIDS Fund; President, National Bank of Washington Foundation; and Editorial Writer, The Washington Post.

Active in the community for many years, Ms. Mathews currently serves as Vice Chair of the Virginia Funders Network, a member of the Board of Grantmakers in Health and of Jubilee Housing, Inc., and a member of the Healthy Communities Working Group of Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers. She is also a member of the Women's Advisory Group of the Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital. Ms. Mathews has served on the board of directors of the Council on Foundations, and is a past chair of the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers.

Ms. Mathews received a B.A. from George Washington University, and completed two years of the Masters Program in Urban Planning at Howard University. She is also a graduate of the Advanced Leadership Program at the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.