Kristen Scott Kennedy is Chief of Staff at the Council where she leads work related to strategy, partnerships, organizational development and learning and strategic communications. She also supports the priorities of the Council’s president and CEO, and facilitates the Council’s Board of Directors

Prior to joining the Council she was a director in the office of the president at Grantmakers for Effective Organizations where she supported the priorities of the president and CEO, facilitated GEO’s Board of Directors, managed partnerships and developed programming on emerging topics in philanthropy.

Previously, Kristen worked for the U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council, a membership organization that promotes the use of cooperatives as a development paradigm. For four years she was managing director at The Bhutan Canada Foundation, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to improving education in the Kingdom of Bhutan. Kristen began her career in communications and operations at The Unusual Suspects Theater Company in Los Angeles before working in fundraising at The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health in Palo Alto, CA and Macmillan Cancer Support in London, UK.

Kristen received her master of public administration from American University’s School of Public Affairs and is an alumna of the University of Southern California and a recipient of the Nonprofit Executive Scholarship at the Richard Ivey School of Business.