Sarah E. Paul is the Chief Executive Officer of the Helmsley Charitable Trust, a global philanthropy committed to helping people live better lives today and creating stronger, healthier futures for individuals and communities.

Appointed in 2021, Sarah previously served as Helmsley’s General Counsel for over six years, during which she oversaw all legal, grants, and human resources operations. She joined Helmsley following two decades of diverse experience in the law sector, most recently as Of Counsel at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, where she provided outside counsel advice to the Helmsley Charitable Trust on a broad array of transactional, compliance, and tax matters.

Sarah brings more than 30 years of experience advising nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining Skadden in 2008, she was a partner at several large law firms and also served as Deputy Counsel at the New York Public Library. She has authored multiple publications and has served on various nonprofit boards and legal industry committees. Sarah currently chairs the Governance Committee of the Cooke School and Institute’s Board of Trustees. Sarah graduated from Harvard summa cum laude and received her J.D. from Harvard Law School. She resides in New York City with her husband and two sons.