Christine James-Brown

President and CEO
Child Welfare League of America, Inc.

Christine James-Brown became President and Chief Executive Officer of the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) in April 2007, assuming the leadership of the nation’s oldest and largest membership-based child welfare organization that works to improve the quality and availability of child welfare and related services through standard-setting and advocacy.

During her tenure with CWLA, Ms. James-Brown has overseen the refocusing of the organization’s business model and service strategy to maximize the impact of its member and partner network and further strengthen its capacity to anticipate and respond to the needs of children and families that are vulnerable.

Prior to her leadership role with CWLA, Ms. James-Brown served as President and CEO of the United Way International (UWI) for five years and was responsible for the efforts of UWI’s worldwide network of United Way nonprofit member organizations—spanning six continents and five regions, and serving communities in 45 countries and territories.

For ten years prior to her time with UWI, Ms. James-Brown served as President and CEO of United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania (UWSEPA), where she guided Philadelphia’s largest private nonprofit organization for health and human services. She directed a staff of 130 that managed an annual fundraising effort raising of over $50,000,000, and distributed funds to over 2,500 community-based agencies.

Throughout her career, Ms. James-Brown has worked tirelessly to help nonprofit health and human service organizations grow and expand their ability to serve children and families through foundation and corporate philanthropy.

Ms. James-Brown has served as a member of the boards of the School District of Philadelphia, Community College of Philadelphia, the Samuel S. Fels Fund, the William Penn Foundation, the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Citizens Bank, Public/Private Ventures, and the Pennsylvania Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Commission. She is currently a member of the advisory boards for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and the Council on Accreditation and serves on the National Academies Committee on Building an Agenda to Reduce the Number of Children in Poverty in Half in 10 Years.

A native Philadelphian, Ms. James-Brown holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Rutgers University. In 1996, Drexel University awarded her an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.