Steve Toben

Steve Toben is the president of the Flora Family Foundation (FFF) in Menlo Park, California. The foundation supports the philanthropic activities of the descendants of Bill Hewlett, co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company. Interests of the Flora Family Foundation include the environment, international development, the arts, and education. Steve reports to a thirty-member Family Council. Before joining the staff of FFF, Steve served as a program officer at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation where he directed the foundation's programs on conflict resolution and the environment. He is a former chair of the Environmental Grantmakers Association and a co-founder of the Peace and Security Funders Group. He is a recipient of the Peacemaker/Peacebuilder Award from the National Peace Foundation in Washington for his work in international conflict resolution. Steve has served on several nonprofit boards of directors, including Innovations for Poverty Action in New Haven, Legacy Works in Palo Alto, the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation in New York, Northern California Grantmakers in San Francisco, and the Great Valley Center in Modesto. A graduate of the University of North Carolina and the Yale Law School, Steve began his career as a law clerk for the Hon. Sam J. Ervin III on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Following his clerkship, Steve practiced law for eight years, first at the firm of Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto and then in the Office of the San Mateo County Counsel in Redwood City. Steve is a former member of the Portola Valley Town Council and twice served as mayor. His wife Janice Toben is the cofounder of the Institute for Social and Emotional Learning (IFSEL), which trains educators across the world in methods for advancing intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies of students, with an emphasis on teacher renewal and whole school transformation. Steve has two adult sons and one granddaughter.