Isa Ellis
Director
Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Isa Ellis is a Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leading a portfolio that focuses on expanding equitable education and employment pathways that lead to economic opportunity and mobility for youth who have been historically marginalized. Prior to joining the foundation, Isa was national vice president at Boys & Girls Club of America (BGCA), where she launched the organization’s first national postsecondary and workforce development strategy to increase access to career readiness and credentialing opportunities for the organization’s more than four million Club youth.
Isa’s 20-year career in education includes leading performance management and school turnaround at Chicago Public Schools; directing organizational growth at the Achievement Network; and brokering cross-sector partnerships as head of global education and workforce at the Clinton Global Initiative, where she facilitated the organization’s largest education commitment, garnering 30 partners to invest more than $600M to increase equity in girls’ education, globally.
She has served on several boards and advisory committees including UNCF Pacific Northwest, Seattle Central College, and Workforce Matters. She has been recognized and awarded for her professional and civic leadership by Athena International, the Chicago Foundation for Women, Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago, and the Global Fund for Women. She’s an alum of National Urban Fellows and Leadership Atlanta and has a M.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and a M.P.A. from Baruch College.