Joel L. Fleishman
Director
Professor of Law and Public Policy Studies, Duke University

Office: 250 Sanford Building
Phone: (919) 613-7375
Email: joel.fleishman@duke.edu

Joel Fleishman is Professor of Law and Public Policy Studies and the Director of the Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Center for Ethics, Public Policy, and the Professions at the Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University. He joined the Duke faculty in 1971, was the founding director of what is now the Sanford School of Public Policy, and has served the university as vice president, senior vice president, and first senior vice president. He took part-time leave from Duke from 1993 to 2003 to serve as president of the Atlantic Philanthropic Service Company, the United States program staff of the Atlantic Philanthropies.

He is author, co-author, or editor of numerous books and articles reflecting his long-standing interest in ethics, public policy, and nonprofit organizations, the most recent of which, Give Smart: Philanthropy That Gets Results, was written with Thomas Tierney of the Bridgespan Group and published in spring 2011 by Public Affaris Book. His book The Foundation: A Great American Secret—How Private Wealth Is Changing the World, was released in an expanded paperback edition in 2009.

Fleishman serves as chairman of the board of trustees of the Urban Institute and as a trustee of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America; Brandeis University; the Artscroll Mesorah Heritage Foundation; the American Hebrew Academy; and the Partnership for Public Service. He is also chairman of the visiting committee of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 2003 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In addition to his academic activities, Fleishman served as a member of the board of directors of the Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation. For eight years he wrote a monthly wine column for Vanity Fair magazine.