Liza McFadden

Liza McFadden advises philanthropists. Under the maxim of a “head of business and a heart for philanthropy”, she provides long-term strategy development with an eye toward measurable returns.​ ​She serves as a board member for K12, a publicly-traded company which provides virtual learning to students of all ages. A former teacher and director in adult and career education, she is a long-time advocate for choice in education.​ ​Liza has over 15-years’ experience as the CEO of nonprofits, and, prior to consulting, served as the president of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, which she and transitioned from a traditional grant-making nonprofit to an organization expert in driving strategic social impact. The Foundation sponsored the global $7-million Adult Literacy XPRIZE which spurred 100-plus teams to compete to design the most effective adult literacy mobile apps. Additionally, the Foundation was one of the first public charities to invest in pay-for-performance or social impact bonds.

A former advisor in government, she worked in concert with Jeb Bush to design the Governor’s Mentoring Initiative which resulted in over 200,000 new mentors for Florida’s school-aged children.​ ​Among her awards, she prizes one of her first, a Distinguished Individual Davis Productivity Award from Florida Taxwatch for animating her interest in determining values for social outcomes.