Tracy palandjian biography

Tracy Pun Palandjian ’93, M.B.A. ’97, a Boston-based nonprofit leader, former Harvard Overseer, and recognized expert on impact investing, will become the newest member of the Harvard Corporation, the University announced Monday.

Elected at a meeting of Harvard’s governing boards on April 3, Palandjian will join the Corporation on July 1.

“Tracy Palandjian is an outstanding Harvard citizen, strongly committed to excellence in education, widely experienced in nonprofit leadership and governance, and deeply dedicated to how universities can serve the world,” said William F. Lee ’72, senior fellow of the Corporation and chair of its governance committee. “She’s also an extraordinarily good colleague, someone who knows Harvard and our community well and who’s always willing to answer the call to serve. She has been one of Harvard’s most engaged and thoughtful alumni leaders in recent years, and I know that her insights and perspective will contribute a great deal to the Corporation’s work.”

Palandjian’s appointment will fill the vacancy on the Corporation created by the departure of Lee, who will conclude his service on June 30 after 12 years, the last eight of them as the Corporation’s senior fellow. In February, Penny Pritzker ’81, a Corporation member since , was named to succeed Lee as senior fellow starting on July 1.

“Harvard changed my life,” said Palandjian. “It has shaped my ideals, instilled a sense of responsibility that guides my work, and given me lasting roots in this community and country. I am deeply honored by the opportunity to join the Corporation and continue my service to an institution that means so much to me. I look forward to working with President Bacow, the leadership team, and the governing boards to build on Harvard’s unique history of excellence in education, research, and commitment to a better world.”

Palandjian is co-founder and CEO of Social Finance, a national nonprofit org

Tracy P. Palandjian ’93 has a vivacious personality that fills up a room, according to her peers—something that you won’t find on the year-old mother of three’s lengthy resume, which includes the C.E.O. of a burgeoning social impact investment firm and Vice Chair of Harvard’s Board of Overseers.

Palandjian left her home country of Hong Kong at the age of In the United States, Palandjian pursued a conventional path to success: She studied economics at Harvard College, earned her Master of Business Administration degree at the Business School as a Baker Scholar, and later worked in management consulting.

In her late 30s, however, Palandjian said she had an awakening while she was working at management consulting firm Parthenon Capital Partners and began to search for something greater than herself.

“I started to ask some important questions—what life do I want to lead, what impact am I making on the world?” Palandjian said. “So I took a leap into the unknown and started Social Finance in ”

Social Finance, where Palandjian is now C.E.O., seeks to connect investors with initiatives that the firm predicts will achieve the best social outcomes. Despite wielding its fair share of uncertainty and challenges, the nascent field of social impact investing offers a budding potential to make an impact on people in need.

The leap she took to start the firm turned into one of the most rewarding and challenging decisions Palandjian has ever made, she said.

Though 25 years have passed since her graduation from the College, Harvard continues to play an important role in Palandjian’s life. Co-workers are constantly surprised by her extensive Harvard network.

“The running joke was she must’ve had 56 different roommates while at Harvard because every time someone interesting came up sh

Tracy Palandjian is CEO and Co-Founder of Social Finance, a national nonprofit and registered investment advisor. In , Tracy co-founded Social Finance with Sir Ronald Cohen and David Blood to seed the Pay For Success field in the United States, sparking a national conversation about new funding models to tackle systemic challenges and drive measurable impact. Since then, Social Finance has mobilized over $ million in new investments designed to achieve improved outcomes across a range of issue areas, including economic mobility, health, and housing. In , the organization launched the Social Finance Institute to advance the field through actionable research and educational outreach.

Prior to Social Finance, Tracy was a Managing Director for eleven years at The Parthenon Group, where she established and led the Nonprofit Practice to support foundations and NGOs to accomplish their missions in the U.S. and globally. Tracy also worked at Wellington Management Company and McKinsey & Company.

A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, Tracy is a frequent speaker and writer on impact investing, social innovation, and results-oriented policymaking. She is an author of Workforce Realigned: How New Partnerships Are Advancing Economic Mobility, and co-author of Investing for Impact: Case Studies Across Asset Classes. Tracy co-founded the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance, where she serves as Vice Chair. She is a member of the board of the International Foundation for Valuing Impacts and a former Trustee of the Global Steering Group on Impact Investing.

Tracy is a member of the Harvard Corporation and serves on the boards of The Surdna Foundation, The Barr Foundation, and The Boston Foundation. She is an Independent Director of Affiliated Managers Group (NYSE: AMG). Previously, Tracy served as Board Chair of Facing History and Ourselves. She also served on the boards of RFK Human Rights, Milton Academy, and Mass

Tracy Pun Palandjian ’93, M.B.A. ’97, has been elected to the Harvard Corporation, the University’s member fiduciary governing board, effective July 1. Harvard announced the election today, following a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing boards this past weekend. She succeeds retiring senior fellow William F. Lee, who completes a dozen years of service on June As previously announced, Corporation member Penny Pritzker has been elected senior fellow, succeeding Lee in that role.

Palandjian has been extensively involved in Harvard service—as a member of the Board of Overseers from to , and of the presidential search committee in that culminated in the appointment of Lawrence S. Bacow as the University’s twenty-ninth leader. Palandjian also served on the Corporation’s finance committee, and as an Overseer was on visiting committees to the Business School, the College, the Division of Continuing Education, and the Harvard Kennedy School. She also chaired the Harvard Alumni Association’s Committee to Nominate Overseers and Elected Directors—an unusually visible position in recent years when Harvard Forward slates of petition candidates qualified for the ballot and succeeded in being elected to the Board. 

According to the news announcement, Palandjian was born and raised in Hong Kong, and came to the United States at age 14 to attend Milton Academy. She graduated magna cum laude from the College, and after working at McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm, returned to the Business School to earn her M.B.A. as a Baker Scholar. Like Lee, she is a Boston-area resident, an advantage for service as a Corporation member. Her other local engagements include service as a director of the Boston Foundation and of Mass. General Brigham, the dominant academic hospitals in the region (and Harvard Medical School affiliates).

“Tracy Palandjian is an outstanding Harvard