Sally Blount is CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, one of the
largest human services providers in the Midwest and among the largest nationally. Since
accepting the call to serve in 2020, Blount has led this $200 million, 108-year-old
organization through a five-year capabilities-building and strategic realignment process.
Working together, Blount and the Board have reimagined Charities’ governance,
streamlined its structure, and strengthened its financial operating model – all in service
of assuring Charities’ long-term sustainability, while creating more impact today for the
people and communities it serves. In 2025, Charities served more than 270,000 people
— regardless of their faith, ethnicity, gender, or nationality — across 20 outreach
programs and 50 service sites spanning Chicago, Cook and Lake counties.
In addition to her role at Catholic Charities, Blount is the Michael L. Nemmers Professor
of Strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. An
internationally recognized thought leader in management and business education,
Blount is a highly rated professor and sought-after speaker on leadership, governance,
and organizational growth and transformation.
Blount also sits on the boards of Abbott Laboratories (ABT-NYSE). She previously
served on the boards of Ulta Beauty (ULTA-NASDAQ), the Commercial Club of Chicago,
the Economic Club of Chicago, the Joyce Foundation, and the Finance Council for the
Archdiocese of Chicago.
Blount holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Kellogg School at Northwestern
University and a B.S. in engineering from Princeton University. She began her career as
an associate at the Boston Consulting Group. Her first faculty appointment was at the
University of Chicago Booth School of Business from 1992 to 2001. In 2001, she joined
New York University’s Stern School of Business, where she became the Abraham L.
Gitlow Professor of Management and chaired the promotion and tenure committee,
before assuming the college deanship in 2004, as vice dean and then Dean of Stern
until 2010. From 2010-2018, Blount served as Dean of the Kellogg School of
Management.
Sally is mother to three adult children. She loves hiking, walks with her dogs, leisurely
meals with family and friends, and reading — modern fiction mixed with writings by
Catholic and Eastern mystics.
