Robert Cordero

Robert Cordero has led Grand Street Settlement as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer since 2015. In that time, he has stewarded the organization’s growth from $15 million to an over $60 million operating budget—guiding the historic settlement house into its second century of service in the Lower East Side, Brooklyn and the Bronx. Robert fosters a commitment to creative thinking and innovative problem-solving to amplify impact, while remaining focused on Grand Street’s mission, vision, culture and values in service to over 18,000 low income New Yorkers.

He has restructured and strengthened Grand Street’s administrative, finance, fundraising, and advocacy functions while dramatically expanding youth services and early childhood programs. He and his team recently announced an expansion of Head Start programs, increasing enrollment slots and opening new center-based sites in the Bronx. This expansion marks the first time in Grand Street’s history that the agency will provide programs in the borough.

Robert got his start as a public school educator and community organizer in Chicago. He received the Joan H. Tisch Community Health Leadership Prize for outstanding work in the fields of health and harm reduction services, later completing the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Executive Program at the Anderson School of Management. Robert was previously President and Chief Program Officer of BOOM! Health in the Bronx. Robert serves on the New York Foundation Board of Trustees and is a Board Member of United Neighborhood Houses. He holds a master's degree from the University of Chicago Crown School of Social Work.