Cecilia Conrad

Cecilia Conrad is the founder and chief executive officer of Lever for Change and a senior advisor at the MacArthur Foundation. Lever for Change connects donors with problem solvers to find and fund bold, effective solutions to accelerate social change in areas that include racial inequity, gender inequality, access to economic opportunity and climate change. Under Conrad’s leadership, Lever for Change has influenced over $2.5 billion in grants and provided support to more than 500 organizations worldwide. 

Before founding Lever for Change, Conrad led the MacArthur Fellows program. In 2023, The Nonprofit Times named her to its Power & Influence Top 50 list and Inside Philanthropy named her one of the 50 most powerful women in US philanthropy. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has served as an economist at the Federal Trade Commission.

She is an emerita professor of economics with Pomona College, where she joined the faculty in 1995 and retired in 2013. At Pomona, she also served as vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college, and later as acting president. In recognition of her academic research and advocacy around racial and gender equity, Conrad received the National Economic Association’s Samuel Z. Westerfield Award and the National Urban League’s Women of Power Award.      

Cecilia Conrad earned a BA from Wellesley College where she also received the 2023 Alumnae Achievement Award and a PhD in economics from Stanford University.