Karen Anderson is Managing Director of the Social Finance Institute, a first-of-its kind platform designed to bridge theory and practice for market leaders, policymakers, and practitioners looking to implement and scale outcomes-based solutions. 

Karen is a results-driven policy, communications, and outreach leader with more than 25 years of executive experience in academia and the private, government, and nonprofit sectors. She previously served as Senior Director of Policy and Communications for the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago and as Senior Advisor to Results for America, a nonprofit organization that promotes evidence-based policymaking. In the latter role, she led Results for All, a global initiative of Results for America seeking to contribute to the global understanding of effective government mechanisms. Karen also previously served as Managing Director for The Hamilton Project at Brookings, an economic policy initiative that she joined as part of the leadership team in 2006. 

She is a veteran of two White Houses, having served as Chief of Staff for the Council of Economic Advisers for the Obama Administration and a Regional Coordinator in the White House Office of Political Affairs for the Clinton Administration. Karen’s private sector experience includes her work as a Vice President of State and Local Government Relations for Citigroup. 

Karen holds an MPP from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a BA in Economics from Agnes Scott College.