Kristen Woolf

Kristen Woolf is Vice President, Programs at EMpower (the Emerging Markets Foundation). Kristen joined EMpower in 2019. In her current role, Kristen leads a global program team that centers funding decisions on the voices and intersectional lived experiences of girls, young women, and youth. She oversees EMpower’s global programmatic portfolio promoting meaningful youth engagement and gender equality in emerging market countries. She leads on the vision and strategic direction for all grantmaking as well as partnerships and engagements with corporates, individuals, foundations and trusts. Prior to this role, Kristen has served in a variety of senior leadership roles with corporate and private foundations including Novo, Nike, and the Malala Fund. The first half of her career she worked on the ground with local, national and international humanitarian organizations focused on immediate, medium and long-term ‘same storm, different boats’ response and recovery in complex emergencies.

Kristen holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas and a graduate degree in Social Work (social welfare policy and immigrant and refugee populations) from Columbia University. In her family, she is a first-generation college graduate and she is forever grateful to AmeriCorps National Service program for equipping her to do so.

Outside of that, Kristen lives in London, England with her partner, two children and a gorgeous adopted lockdown pup called Tula. She spends as much time outdoors as possible (not nearly enough, go away Zoom).