Our grantmaking supports the Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), and LGBTQIA+ communities, and the organizations that serve them.
Dr. Pei Desrosiers, the President and Board Chair of the foundation, recognized a profound resemblance between her father, Louis Desrosiers, and her partner in establishing the foundation, Louis Greene Stanfield II. Upon reflecting on Louis Desrosier's life and values, she discovered their shared principles and unwavering commitment to aiding others. This realization served as the inspiration for Dr. Desrosiers to suggest naming the foundation after these two remarkable men.
Louis Greene Stanfield II was born in 1951 in North Carolina to a working poor family. Growing up, he witnessed various forms of discrimination, including racism, misogyny, domestic and institutional violence, homophobia, and economic discrimination that were propped up by religious structures. He was introduced to social justice issues at an early age due to his mother’s bad health, which caused her to lose her job as an office worker. Louis became a good student and earned a full ride academic scholarship to the College of William and Mary in Virginia. However, he devoted more time to his job than to his attendance, which led to him being subject to the early draft lotteries of the time. To avoid being drafted into the Army, he enlisted in the Navy and became a hospital corpsman.
Louis realized that education was the key to a better life than that of his parents, and the Navy paid for him to finish his undergraduate education and major in nursing. He also attended the Navy Nurse Corps Anesthesia program at George Washington University. Later, Louis established nurse-directed anesthesia practices and became a serial entrepreneur. He supported feminist causes, equal rights initiatives, and justice for marginalized groups, including people of color and LGBTQ+ people. Louis obtained his PhD in pharmacology in 2004 and developed a new local anesthetic formulation in 2012, which led to the creation of Ventis Pharma Corporation. Ventis is a privately held company that works for FDA approval on several products to improve the anesthesia experience for everyone, providers and patients.
In addition to his business ventures, Louis has endowed a foundation to help with educational benefits for marginalized communities and worked to make investments in the company accessible to people who might not have considered investing in a drug company. He has a vision of what can be accomplished by a person with significant financial resources to further expand the benefits of education for historically disadvantaged groups. Louis hopes to provide opportunities to those born with fewer advantages in education and employment, and make the world less dysfunctional in his small corner.
The Louis G. Stanfield and Louis B. Desrosiers Foundation is named in part as a tribute to Louis Bedard Desrosiers, the father of Dr. Pei Desrosiers. Louis was a descendant of Haitian and Cuban ancestry, born on January 21, 1932 in Aquin Haiti.
Louis obtained degrees in both Accounting and Law. His achievements marked the beginning of a tradition of academic excellence in his family.
In the early 1960’s Louis immigrated to the United States with his wife Luce and his two daughters, settling in Brooklyn, NY. Education and home ownership remained fundamental values ingrained in his family. Louis not only provided for his family but also for the community. He opened an immigration service center, helping families reunite and assisting them in attaining green cards and citizenship. As a pastor of a small church, affectionately known as Pastor Bedard, he dedicated his life to impacting the lives of others leaving a lasting impact on the community.
What We Do
Meet The Team
President &
Board Chair
Dr. Pei Desrosiers
Board Members
Talatha Kiazolu-Reeves
Anita Watkins
Treasurer
Guary Bernadelle
Secretary
Marcia Gilliard
Dr. Pei Desrosiers is a highly experienced Behavioral Health Clinician, licensed Master Social Worker, and an ordained minister with a DMIN in Interfaith Clinical Education in Pastoral Counseling.
Pei’s passion for creating sustainable change extends beyond her private practice. She believes in the power of behavioral science to drive change and improve lives, and recognizes the importance of intersectionality in her work. Pei seeks to address the ways in which systemic oppression impacts mental health and well-being, and is deeply committed to promoting social justice and equity in her work on the macro level.
Pei is a visionary leader who is multi-focused on social work, mental health and economic development, raising venture capital for social investments in progressive nonprofits. She currently serves as the CEO and Board Chair of the Stanfield Desrosiers Foundation, where she continues to make a positive impact on individuals and communities. She lives in NJ with her wife Andrea and son Zachary.