The mission of the Kerry & Linda Killinger Foundation is to help our communities thrive by promoting public policy reform, advancing social and racial justice, building community, and providing access to the arts.
The Kerry & Linda Killinger Foundation was started in 2002, and continues to support great organizations today that fulfill its mission in the communities where Kerry and Linda live and work.
Thriving Communities
Thriving communities happen when governments are fiscally responsible, people speak with civility to and about one another, and all people have the opportunity to better themselves in life. The following are some of the organizations the Killinger Foundation has supported toward those goals.
Click on the logos below to see how the Killinger Foundation has helped communities thrive where Kerry and Linda live and work.
Town Hall Writers Festival
Cascade Public Media
Black Girls Code
Seattle City Club
Rancho Mirage Writers Festival
Eisenhower Health
The University of Washington
Des Moines Water Works Park
Iowa State University
Bighorn
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
Strategic Alliance to Fight Exploitation (SAFE)
Palm Springs Art Museum
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle Art Museum
United Way
Shriners Hospitals
ISU Greenlee Summit
Music
Health and Human Services
Des Moines Water Works Park
Kerry and Linda love the amphitheater at Water Works Park and the enrichment it brings to the Des Moines community. For four generations, members of the Killinger family have played music, taught music, and brought music to the greater Des Moines region.
It was a fitting tribute to honor the Killinger family’s music legacy by naming the Killinger Stage at the amphitheater, and hosting a kick-off concert and picnic on Labor Day 2019 that featured the Killinger Big Band!
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
In June 2002, Kerry was awarded the E. Donnall Thomas medal of achievement by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. It was given to Kerry for: “vision, leadership, dedication and to commemorate a lifetime of achievement with far reaching benefits to humanity.”
ISU Greenlee Summit
The Killinger Foundation was the founding sponsor of an exciting forum for civil discourse in the fall of 2019 at the Iowa State University Greenlee School of Journalism. The Civility Symposium brought local and nationally recognized experts together to openly discuss some of the most challenging topics of the day.
It was an honor to have Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller
and former Presidential Press Secretary Mike McCurry
contribute to the 2019 Civility Symposium on a panel moderated by Kevin Cooney.
Music
Kerry (left) playing with Doc Severinsen from the Tonight Show (right) Kerry and Linda love making music performances available to as many people as possible, and over the years have sponsored many concerts in Iowa and Washington state, including the annual Veterans Day concert of the Iowa Veterans Military band which was founded and directed by Kerry’s father Karl. Kerry’s mom and dad
About
Kerry and Linda have a long history of working for community building, K-12 and higher education, affordable housing, and social and racial justice.
Kerry Killinger was the chairman, president and CEO of Washington Mutual Bank, the sixth largest depository bank in the country prior to the financial crisis of 2008. He graduated with a BBA with honors and an MBA from the University of Iowa. He is a chartered financial analyst (CFA) and a fellow in the Life Management Institute. He was chair of the National Education summit of Achieve and American Banker’s Banker of the year, received President George H.W. Bush’s Points of Light Award for his philanthropy, was vice chair and chair-elect of the Financial Services Roundtable, vice chair and chair-elect of the Federal Reserve’s Thrift Industry Advisory Council, and was vice chair of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle. He was elected to the American Society of Corporate Executives. He is currently the CEO of Crescent Capital.
Linda Killinger was vice chair of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines and chair of its audit/finance committee. She was also a consulting partner in an international accounting firm specializing in strategic planning and merger/acquisitions for financial institutions. She was the publisher and editor of Overseas Business magazine. Prior to that she was appointed by Governor Robert D. Ray as the director of administration for the Iowa Department of Human Services, which included the prison system, mental health hospitals, AFDC and other human service programs. She was appointed by Governor Tom Vilsack to chair his Committee for a Comprehensive Housing Strategy for Iowa. She has a bachelor of science degree from Iowa State University, an MBA from Drake University, and completed additional graduate work at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. She currently is the CEO of Olympic Consulting.