Jacqueline Novogratz

Jacqueline Novogratz (born 1961) is an American entrepreneur and author. She is the founder and chief executive of Acumen, a non-profit venture capital fund whose goal is to use entrepreneurial approaches to address global poverty.[1]

Early life

Novogratz was born in 1961[2] in the US, the eldest of seven children.[3] Her father was a career officer and major in the U.S. Army, and her mother, Barbara, ran an antiques business.[4]

She attended Fort Hunt High School in Alexandria, Virginia, and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia, where she studied economics and international relations.[3] She earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.[3]

Career

Novogratz started her career at Chase Manhattan Bank in 1983,[3] as an international credit analyst. After three years, she left banking to explore how to make a difference in the world.

She worked throughout Africa as a consultant for the World Bank and for UNICEF. As a UNICEF consultant in Rwanda in the late 1980s, she helped found Duterimbere, a microfinance institution.

Novogratz founded and directed The Philanthropy Workshop and The Next Generation Leadership programs at the Rockefeller Foundation before founding Acumen in 2001.[5] Acumen invests patient capital in businesses that provide critical goods and services to people living in poverty. It estimates that it has impacted 648 million people through its investments.[6] Novogratz oversaw the development of Acumen's Fellowship program, which develops leaders for the social sector.[7]

Novogratz serves on the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative,[8] and UNICEF. She also serves on the Aspen Institute board of trustees, the Pakistan Business Council Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business (CERB)], is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations,[9] and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.[10] Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, appointed Novogratz to the State Department's Foreign Affairs Policy Board.[11]

The Blue Sweater

In 2009, Novogratz published The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World.[12] The book is a firsthand account of her journey from international banker to social entrepreneur and founder of Acumen.[13]

The title of her book, The Blue Sweater, refers to an encounter she had in Kigali, Rwanda. Novogratz spotted a boy wearing a blue sweater. She recognized it as a sweater she had owned and given to Goodwill a decade earlier; it was hers, with her name on the tag. The encounter was an epiphany for Novogratz; her sense of the interconnectedness of our world has continued to influence her current work.[7]

Personal life

Novogratz is married to Chris Anderson, the owner of TED Talks.[14][15]

Her brothers include Michael Novogratz and Robert Novogratz.

Awards

• Forbes magazine's 100 Greatest Living Business Minds, 2017[16]
• Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship, 2016[17]
• The Resolution Project Champions Circle Award, 2016[18]
• Asia Society Game Changer, 2014[19]
• Bloomberg Markets 50 Most Influential in Global Finance, 2014[20]
• 25 Most Successful Stanford Business School Graduates of All time[21]
• University of Virginia Distinguished Alumna Award, 2013[22]
• Middlebury College CSE Vision Award and honorary doctorate, 2013[23][24]
• Notre Dame Award for International Human Development, 2013[25]
• Women of Concern Humanitarian Award, 2012[26]
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 2010[27]
• Wofford College’s Sandor Teszler Award for Moral Courage and Service to Humankind in Spartanburg, SC, 2010[28]
• Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinkers, 2009[29]
• Daily Beast's 25 Smartest People of the Decade, 2009[30]
• AWNY's Changing the Game Award, 2009[31]
• Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2008[32]
• Rockefeller Foundation Warren Weaver Fellow[33]
• Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow[34]

Honorary degrees

• Doctor of Humane Letters New England College, 2017[35]
• Doctor of Laws, University of Toronto, 2015[36]
• Doctor of Humane Letters, Bard College, 2014[37]
• Doctorate of Humane Letters, Middlebury College, 2013[23][24]
• Doctor of Humane Letters, Fordham University, 2012[38]
• Doctor of Laws, University of Notre Dame, 2011[39]
• Doctor of Humanities, Wofford College, 2010[40]

Works

• The blue sweater : bridging the gap between rich and poor in an interconnected world, New York Rodale 2010. ISBN 9781586489564
• Manifesto for a moral revolution : Practices to Build a Better World, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2020. ISBN 9781250222879