Darla Moore

Darla Moore is the Founder and Chair of the Charleston Parks Conservancy, a foundation which focuses on enhancing the park and public spaces in the City of Charleston, the Founder and Chair of the Palmetto Institute, a not-for-profit think tank that aims to raise per capita income in South Carolina, the former Managing Director of Chemical Bank, and the former President of the private investment firm Rainwater Inc. Under the leadership of Moore and her late husband, Richard Rainwater, the company expanded to manage over $5 billion in assets.  

In 1997, Moore became the first woman to be profiled on the cover of Fortune Magazine and named to the list of the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business. She received the Business Person of the Year Award from the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and was inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame.  

Moore has served on many corporate and philanthropic boards including the Hospital Corporation of America, The South Financial Group, the New York University Medical School, MPS Group, the National Advisory Board for JP Morgan, the National Teach for America Board of Directors, and the University of South Carolina. She currently serves on the board of The Shed, a cultural institution that fosters innovation and creativity for a more equitable society.  

Darla Moore received her B.A. from the University of South Carolina and her M.B.A. from George Washington University. Notably, the University of South Carolina’s business school is named in her honor, the first business school in the U.S. to be named for a woman. Moore is passionate about and invests heavily in her hometown of Lake City, SC, where she currently lives part-time. When not engaging in one of her numerous philanthropic endeavors, Moore can be found playing golf, collecting 18th-century French furniture, and searching for rare books.