Speaker
Biographies
David
E.K. Hunter, PhD
Director of
Evaluation and Knowledge Development,
Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
A cultural anthropologist
and clinical social worker by training, David Hunter joined the Foundation
in July 1998 following a six-year stint as Superintendent of Cedarcrest
Hospital in Newington, Connecticut, and a year and a half as CEO of
the Southwest Connecticut Mental Health System. Hunter previously had
held a variety of positions managing mental health services in the public
sector. During his work in the mental health field, he led the reorganization
of several institutions to support decision-making grounded in the use
of timely, pertinent, and
accessible data. Hunter credits that experience with preparing him for
his current job in which, among other things, he is working with his
colleagues and the Foundation's grantees to apply a "theory of
change" approach to capacity building that makes use of well-designed
outcomes
in order to help promote the success of grantees. In earlier years,
he had been a tenured associate professor in the Department of Anthropology
and Sociology at (then) Southern Connecticut State College.
When not at the Foundation, he enjoys his family, a small private practice
in psychotherapy, reading novels and history, and playing classical
guitar.