Eric Phamdo serves as a Program Officer at the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation. Established by the founder of the Buffalo Bills NFL franchise, The Foundation’s funding efforts are concentrated on Mr. Wilson’s hometown of Southeast Michigan and the home of his beloved Buffalo Bills, Western New York. As a Program Officer at the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, Eric leverages their expertise in place-based economic development and nonprofit capacity building to uplift projects in Early Childhood, Afterschool, and Youth Sports & Recreation. As well as Nonprofit Support & Innovation, a special initiative of the Foundation focused on building capacity through project-specific grants for intermediary organizations and encouraging collaboration among nonprofits.

Eric leads a portfolio that has expanded economic opportunities in neighborhoods and strengthened the nonprofit infrastructure across 16 counties in Michigan and New York. Eric serves in leadership roles for initiatives in Buffalo, NY; Detroit, MI; and Pontiac, MI that are coordinating state, municipal, and philanthropic resources to support economic development. Eric is passionate about ensuring capacity building resources and networks are available to organizations across Southeast Michigan and Western New York. Through their work, they have coalesced organizations and funders to coordinate and scale resources and networks across the Foundation’s two regions.

Eric brings global experience and perspective to their work, having lived, and studied on five continents. As a graduate student, they interned with USAID to build and beta-test the Global Innovation Exchange, which became the largest database of global development innovations with 16,000+ innovations and a curated directory of $3.5B+ in funding opportunities. Prior to that, Eric worked in the Education Abroad Office at the University of Rochester – empowering thousands of students along their journey to broaden their educational horizons.

Eric earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Rochester studying cross-cultural psychology, sustainability, and business administration. Eric earned a Public Leadership Credential from the Harvard Kennedy School. Eric is also passionate about human well-being. They are a trained natural foods chef and a yoga teacher and have taught thousands of students mindfulness and conscious movement to nurture their mental, physical, and emotional wellness.