Since 1989 Peter Hero has been the President and CEO of Community Foundation Silicon Valley, with current assets of over $800 million and annual grants exceeding $70 million. The 50-year old Foundation was recognized in 2001 as the national “Outstanding Foundation of the Year” by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), the only community foundation ever to receive this award. In 1999, CFSV created the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2), the region's pre-eminent venture philanthropy giving circle, with a membership of 150 and nearly $2 million in grants in the first six years.

Prior to this position, Peter was President of the Maine College of Art, a 4-year college of art and design. He holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University School of Business, an M.A. (With Distinction) in Art History from Williams College , and (Honorary) Doctor of Laws from the Maine College of Art.

In 1991, Peter was appointed by President George Bush to a 6-year term on the National Council for the Arts. In 2002, President George W. Bush appointed Peter to the National Museum Services Board. Both appointments were confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Other recent recognition includes the John Gardner Leadership Award (given by The American Leadership Forum), the Excellence in Civic Leadership Award (awarded by The Tech Museum of Innovation and the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce), Lifetime Achievement in the Arts (by Arts Council Silicon Valley), and, in statewide recognition by the California Arts Council, Exemplary Contributions to the Arts.

Fortune Magazine , in an extensive article on CFSV, noted that: “It is Peter Hero , more than anyone else, who has shown Silicon Valley how to give…by channeling the area's distinctive culture into an unusual brand of charity: demanding, ambitious, self-conscious, creative, even risky—everything you'd expect from Silicon Valley .”

Currently Peter is on the Board of Directors of The Foundation for a Civil Society, Skoll Foundation, eBay Foundation, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Stanford University 's Haas Center for Public Service, the American India Foundation, and in 2004, he was appointed a Synergos Foundation Global Fellow. Peter was a founding Director of The Entrepreneur's Foundation and is a past Board member of the Council on Foundations where he chaired the National Committee on Community Foundations. He currently chairs the World Bank Advisory Committee on global community foundation development.

Internationally, Peter has been working since 1996 in Central and Eastern Europe to create a network of community foundations. Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel appointed him to the 2002 NATO Summit Council of Advisors in Prague . Peter is a frequent guest lecturer at Stanford Graduate Business School (which has written a case study on CFSV) and his writing has been published in the United States and Europe .