Vanessa is an expert on sparking and scaling innovation in schools everywhere so that all kids can be prepared for their future. She consults with funders and organizations focused on innovation in education and youth development and is an Expert-in-Residence at Harvard Innovation Lab.

Most recently, Vanessa served as North America Community Impact Director at Nike, leading a statewide education initiative in Oregon, managing key national and local partnerships, and engaging Nike leaders to innovate in education. Her work (re)launching and implementing the Nike School Innovation Fund was recently documented in a Harvard case used to teach shared value and scaling impact in a joint program between the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Harvard Business School.

Prior to that, she served as VP for Worldwide Human Resources at EF Education and Managing Director at Friends of the Children, where she now serves on the National Board of Directors. She also serves on the board of Construct Foundation, is a member of Oregon Community Foundation's Leadership Council, and participates in Transcend Education's Yellow Hats League. Early in her career, Vanessa worked in Venezuela for Empresas Mendoza supporting global financial restructuring and liquidating the group’s trade finance bank in NYC.

Vanessa received a BS from Boston University and an MBA from Harvard.