Desiree Pipkins

As chief impact officer, Desiree Pipkins leads the creation and execution of FHI 360’s strategic change initiatives, overseeing aspects of the organization’s global strategy implementation and leading its global public policy and advocacy efforts.

Prior to joining FHI 360, Pipkins was interim deputy chief operating officer and chief of staff to the CEO at Mercy Corps, where she led three organization-wide change initiatives focused on strategic planning; employee engagement and culture; and diversity, equity and social inclusion.

Earlier in her career she was a business development lead for U.S. government accounts at Palantir Technologies Inc. and held several positions in the Obama administration, initially as a researcher in the White House Office of the General Counsel and then in the U.S. Department of Energy, where she was chief of staff to the assistant secretary of international affairs and international advisor to the deputy secretary.

She has also served on the Biden-Harris, Clinton-Kaine (pre-election) and Obama-Biden presidential transition teams and was an election observer in two long-term missions with the National Democratic Institute in Egypt and Nigeria. Pipkins began her career as the research director at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, working on domestic civil-rights matters.

Pipkins holds a B.A. from Oberlin College.