Elinor Johnstone Ferdon

Mrs. Ferdon is a member of the Board of Directors and the past National President of Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., the largest organization for girls and young women in the world. In addition to her role as the national leader of the Girl Scout Movement, she served on the international level as well. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees for the Foundation for Girl Guides and Girl Scouts International Centre, Our Chalet, Adelboden, Switzerland, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Olave Baden-Powell Society of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, and a former a member of the WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) Fund Development Committee. 

She is also a current member, and former President, of the Board of Directors of the World Foundation for Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, Inc., which seeks to foster world friendship by supporting Girl Guide and Girl Scout projects around the globe. She has represented Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. at World Conferences in Kenya, Denmark and in 1996 in Nova Scotia, Canada where she was appointed by WAGGGS as the chair of the 19 th World Conference which included delegates and members from 136 nations and was conducted in three languages. In New Jersey, she was the President of the Board of Directors of the Girl Scout Council of Bergen County for nine years.

Elinor Johnstone Ferdon of Alpine, New Jersey is Past Chair of the United Way of America Board of Governors. Located in Alexandra, Virginia, the national organization provides support to almost 1,400 local United Ways across the country, and represents the largest charitable network in the nation. She is the current Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Community Foundation for Bergen County in Paramus, New Jersey.

As an active member of the United Way of America Board of Governors, she served as a member of the Executive Committee, the Community Impact Committee, the Strengthen the System Governance Task Group, Transformation Committee, and as the chair of the Member Services Committee. In New Jersey she currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Community Foundation for Bergen County-a public Charity in Bergen County, New Jersey. She is past Chair of the Board of Directors of Bergen County's United Way, is a current member of the Board and serves on the Executive Committee. She is a founding member of United Way's Women United in Philanthropy, and was also a founder of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society in Bergen County.

She is a member of the board of directors of the National Human Services Assembly, Washington, D.C., and serves as Secretary of the Board, Chair of the Governance, Leadership and Development Committee and a member of the Executive Committee. The National Assembly is a community of national health and human service organizations and their local affiliates, acting in concert to improve the quality of life for tens of millions of Americans.

Mrs. Ferdon served as a member of the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee and Chair of the Audit Committee of Summit Bancorp and Summit Bank and served as a member of the Fleet-New Jersey Advisory Board, 1984 to 2003.

In addition, she served almost fifteen years as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Urban League, New York, New York.
In New Jersey, she also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, New Jersey, and former Vice Chairman, and also chaired the Facilities Committee of the board charged with enhancing and increasing the outreach, size and scope of the internationally famed world class science center.

Mrs. Ferdon served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Volunteer Consulting Group/boardnetUSA with headquarters in New York City. In addition, she is an active member of the Board of the Bermuda Artworks Foundation.

Ellie Ferdon was Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of Stoneleigh-Burnham School in Greenfield Massachusetts for ten years. Stoneleigh-Burnham is a premier secondary boarding school for girls.

Mrs. Ferdon has been honored many times for her volunteer work and community service. She is the recipient of the prestigious Barbara Boggs Sigmund Award by the Women's Political Caucus of New Jersey's Political Action Committee and the American Jewish Committee Institute of Human Relations Award. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she served as a Trustee for 18 years, most recently as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees. She was also a 1999 Honoree of the County of Bergen, New Jersey, as an outstanding Pioneer Woman of the 90's.

She is also a recipient of the "Thanks Badge and Thanks Badge Two Girl Scouting's highest recognitions for adults, the Woman of Distinction Award from the Girl Scout Council of Bergen County, the Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award from United Way of America, the Community Leadership Award from Family Service of America, the New Jersey Woman of Achievement Award from Douglass College and the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs, the Institute of Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee in Northern New Jersey, and the Volunteer Leadership Award from Leadership New Jersey.

Mrs. Ferdon and her husband, Robert, have three daughters and eleven grandchildren.