The Boston Foundation announces Adage Capital co-founder Phill Gross to join Board of Directors

Boston – The Boston Foundation is pleased to announce that Phill Gross, the co-founder and Managing Director of Adage Capital Management, L.P. and a respected philanthropist, has been selected to join the Foundation’s Board of Directors, effective July 1, 2026.

Gross is eligible to serve two five-year terms on the Board.

“Phill Gross is widely recognized as an extraordinary investor and a dedicated philanthropist,” said Dwight Poler, chair of the Boston Foundation Board of Directors. “On behalf of the Board, it is an honor and privilege to be able to welcome him to the Board as he deepens his already highly valued connections to this foundation and its work for the people of Greater Boston.”

Gross has had a long-standing relationship with the Foundation. He and his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Gross, served as co-chairs of TBF’s Annual Campaign for Civic Leadership in 2019-2020, during which time the campaign raised a then-record $3.4 million.

“Joining The Boston Foundation Board of Directors is both an honor and a responsibility I embrace wholeheartedly. I look forward to working alongside my fellow board members to champion systemic change, foster opportunity, and help eliminate disparities in Boston through thoughtful, impactful philanthropy.” said Gross.

Gross co-founded Adage Capital in 2001 with Bob Atchinson. The firm manages assets primarily for endowment and foundation clients and is composed of a team of industry specific portfolio managers that use fundamental intra-industry investment approaches to meet its investment objectives.

Gross received his B.S. in finance and economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1982 and his M.S. in investments in 1983. He is a former member of the UW Foundation Board of Directors, and is currently a member of the Steve Hawk Center for Applied Securities Analysis Advisory Board and the Nicolas Center for Applied Corporate Finance Advisory Board at Wisconsin. Phill received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the UW Business School in 2006 and from the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association in 2019.

In the area of philanthropy, he was a founder and treasurer of Strategic Grant Partners, a consortium of family foundations that is working to affect systemic change in the areas of education and family services in Massachusetts. He serves on  the Board of Directors of Youth Enrichment Services, a Boston-based agency that engages urban kids in outdoor activities such a skiing, hiking and track. Gross is also a member of the United States Skiing and Snowboard Association Board of Trustees and is a member of the T2 Foundation Board of Directors and the Share Winter Foundation. He is also on the Board of Fellows for the Harvard Medical School and is a Governing Trustee of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and serves on  Dana Farber's Trustee Science Committee.

Phill and Liz live in Concord, Massachusetts. They have four children.