Our Leadership

Tyler TerMeer, PhD, joined San Francisco AIDS Foundation as CEO in February 2022 and is the first person of color and first person living with HIV to hold this role within the organization’s more than four-decade history. Reporting to the Board of Directors and working in partnership with a leadership team, Dr. TerMeer is responsible for setting the organization’s strategic priorities with the Board of Directors and ensuring programmatic and operational excellence, strong fiscal management, effective human resources, and long-term financial viability of our work. He holds primary responsibility for building positive public awareness of SFAF as well as its associated brands, and for developing and maintaining constructive working relationships with funders, civic leaders and other organizations working toward common goals.

Dr. TerMeer has more than 20 years of experience in HIV and AIDS policy, advocacy, and nonprofit management. Previously, he served as CEO of Cascade AIDS Project, the largest community-based provider of HIV services in Oregon and southwest Washington. During his time at the helm of Cascade AIDS Project, Dr. TerMeer oversaw a merger with Our House of Portland, expanded the organization from one office to seven across two states, and launched Prism Health to serve the primary care and mental health needs of LGBTQ+ community members.

Previously, Dr. TerMeer served as the Director of Public Policy and Government Relations at AIDS Resource Center Ohio, as Director of Ohio AIDS Coalition, and on a variety of HIV and AIDS policy organization councils and boards including Positive Pedalers (PosPeds), the National Association of People with AIDS, and the National Center for Innovation in HIV Care. He is currently a member of the AIDS United Governing Board of Directors and has served for nearly a decade as the elected co-chair of the AIDS United Public Policy Council. For nearly two decades, Dr. TerMeer has supported San Francisco AIDS Foundation as a donor through his participation AIDS/LifeCycle as both a Rider and a Roadie.

Dr. TerMeer is personally committed to the work of SFAF. Throughout his career and personal life, he has worked to ensure that people living with HIV have the resources and support they need to live healthy lives, that LGBTQ+ community members have access to affirming and non-judgmental care, that our nations overdose response is treated with the dignity and humanity that all people deserve and that Black-led organizations, and that Black-led organizations and Black and Brown leaders are supported and empowered through justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and resources. In 2012, he was honored by the White House as one of the “Nation’s Emerging LGBTQ+ Leaders,” in 2013 was named by the White House as part of the “Nation’s Emerging Black Leadership,” in 2020 was named a Portland Business Journal “Executive of the Year," and in 2024 received a commendation from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for his leadership of San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Dr. TerMeer holds a PhD in Public Policy and Administration, and an MS in Nonprofit Management and Organization Leadership from Walden University. He is also a graduate of the UCLA/Johnson and Johnson Health Care Executive Management Program. Dr. TerMeer grew up in Central Ohio. When he is not working, he enjoys spending quality time with friends and chosen-family, running, urban hikes and spoiling his rescue dog - a pug named Riley.