Olivia Leland

Olivia Leland is the Founder and CEO of Co-Impact, a global philanthropic collaborative that brings together local changemakers and funders to make health, education, and economic systems stronger and more inclusive and advance gender equality and women’s leadership.

Drawing on more than two decades of experience in philanthropy, government, and the nonprofit sector, she launched Co-Impact in 2017 following three years of deep consultations with funders and changemakers to better understand how philanthropy can create impact that lasts. Today, Co-Impact’s team operates across five continents, supporting partners in Africa, Asia, and Latin America who know their systems best and are transforming them to benefit more than 600 million people.

Previously, Olivia served as founding director of the Giving Pledge, an effort launched by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett to encourage the world’s wealthiest families to commit the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. She led its strategic development, designed learning opportunities, and grew the community to more than 130 families (now more than 200).

Olivia also worked in microfinance and financial inclusion, and in the areas of multi-sector collaboration, strategy development, and advancing gender equality. In 2014, she was distinguished as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

She and her work have been featured in media outlets including the Financial Times, Bloomberg, Barron’s, and Forbes, and she regularly speaks on the role of philanthropy in supporting large-scale change as well as on work to advance systems change and gender equality.

Olivia lives with her husband and three children and a very loved dog near Geneva, Switzerland, and holds dual US/French nationality.