Managing DirectorMacArthur Foundation
Cecilia A. Conrad, Ph.D. is founder and CEO of Lever for Change. Lever for Change is a new nonprofit with a mission of unlocking philanthropic dollars for social change. Lever for Change designs and manages customized competitions, supports the social entrepreneurs who emerge from the competitions, and creates a secondary market to match top vetted proposals from all competitions with funders. In addition to her role at Lever for Change, Conrad is also a Managing Director at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation where her portfolio includes the MacArthur Fellows program and 100&Change, a program that periodically makes a single $100 million grant to a project that promises measurable progress in solving a critical social problem. The first $100 million grant was awarded to Sesame Workshop in collaboration with the International Rescue Committee for an early child intervention in the Syrian refugee region. Before joining the Foundation in January 2013, Conrad had a distinguished career as both a professor and an administrator at Pomona College in Claremont, CA. She is currently an emerita professor of economics at Pomona. She served as Associate Dean of the College (2004-2007), as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College (2009-2012), and as Acting President (Fall 2012). From 2007-2009, she was interim Vice President and Dean of the Faculty at Scripps College. She received her B.A. degree from Wellesley College and her Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.