Sarah Smallhouse is President of the Thomas R. Brown Foundations and oversees the grant portfolios of the family foundations. She has a BA in Economics from the University of Washington, an MBA from the University of Arizona, and an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Her community service includes a variety of leadership roles. She is a past-chair of the UA Foundation Board and the Southern Arizona Buffelgrass Coordination Center. She has also served on the boards of Tucson Regional Economics Opportunities, the Advisory Board of the UA College of Science, the Advisory Board for Biosphere 2, and she currently serves on the board of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council where she co-chairs the Governance Committee. Her current focus is on primary election reform. 

She was the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce 2008 Woman of the Year and received the Thomas L. Swanson Regional Leadership Award from the Pima Association of Governments for enhancing the regional community despite jurisdictional boundaries, promoting cooperation among residents and elected officials, and leading innovation on regional issues.