Lisa Jordan

Lisa Jordan is a senior philanthropic executive with a twenty year career focused on impact and systemic change. She is the founder of Aim for Social Change, a consultancy firm that focuses on social impact and Managing Director for the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation.

She has served as CEO of Bernard van Leer Foundation, CSO at Porticus Foundation and in leadership positions at the Ford Foundation.

Prior to her engagement in philanthropy Ms. Jordan was a founding director of the largest parliamentary body in the world focused on global environmental challenges (the Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE). She started her career as a legislative assistant to Congressman Jim Scheuer (8th NY) and has led many non-profit programs and organizations in Europe and the United States.

Ms. Jordan is a well-known speaker on democracy and globalization. Ms. Jordan was recently named as one of the top ten ‘civic influencers’ in the Netherlands. She currently serves on three social enterprise boards. She is co-editor of ‘NGO Accountability: Politics, Principles and Innovations’ (2006, Earthscan). She is deeply committed to strengthening civil society. She acts as a consultant for many foundations on issues of strategy and blended financial approaches to achieve impact. Topics range from complex global issues like development, environment and globalization, to more stakeholder oriented programming on early childhood development, indigenous rights and the poor. She has numerous peer reviewed articles in Dutch, English and Spanish.

Ms. Jordan graduated cum laude in 1992 with a Master’s Degree in Development Studies from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, Netherlands. A U.S. national, she is married with two children.