Executive Director
Joy Vermillion Heinsohn is the Executive Director for the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. A native North Carolinian and a graduate of a North Carolina public school, Joy first joined the Foundation in 1998 and served in various programmatic capacities for over 20 years, including leading several grant portfolios and the Foundation’s strategic planning processes. Joy left ZSR to serve as North Carolina’s first Philanthropy Liaison within the NC Office of Strategic Partnerships, a position co-created and co-funded by philanthropy and state government that works to bridge those two sectors. She returned to the Foundation in 2023 as Executive Director.
Joy has served on the Board of Trustees and Board of Visitors of Wake Forest University, the Board of MCNC, the Equal Access to Justice Commission, was a founding member of the NC Network of Grantmakers, and numerous other national, state and local philanthropic and nonprofit organizations. Joy is a graduate of Leadership North Carolina and is a former Hull Fellow with Philanthropy Southeast. She received a bachelor's degree in Politics from Wake Forest University and a master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. The Kennedy School named her a Lucius N. Littauer Fellow for her academic achievement and contributions.
Joy is the mother of two spirited children. She and her family reside in Winston-Salem.