Brennan is an experienced executive leader and coach. She most recently served as president and chief executive officer of the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. As president, her primary responsibility was to oversee all aspects of the Foundation’s strategy, vision and operations.

Prior to becoming president, Brennan served as director of the Foundation’s grantmaking programs. As director, she oversaw community investments in the areas of rural food insecurity, maternal and infant health disparities, education, community redevelopment, and greenway trail networks.

Brennan gained national recognition for her work to create the Foundation’s Heal Charlottesville Fund. Formed immediately after the August 2017 white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, the Fund was the primary provider of financial assistance to survivors devastated by the acts of terror. The Fund also made grants to initiatives advancing racial equity and seeking to build power among black and brown communities. In 2018, the Council on Foundations selected Brennan to receive its Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking in recognition of her work on the Heal Charlottesville Fund.

Brennan serves on the Board of Directors of the Council on Foundations. She is a former co-chair of the University of Virginia’s President’s Council on University-Community Partnerships and continues to serve as a member of the Council.

A native of Iowa, Brennan holds a degree in philosophy from the University of Iowa and is a distinguished Ron Brown Scholar, Davidson Fellow Laureate and graduate of the Council on Foundations Career Pathways Program. Brennan and her husband, Andre, live in Charlottesville with their five young children.