Bio
Lisette Nieves is the President of the Fund for the City of New York (FCNY), an institution charged with developing and helping to implement innovations in policy, programs, practices and technology in order to advance the functioning of government and nonprofit organizations in New York City and beyond. Lisette is also a Distinguished Clinical Professor at NYU, overseeing doctoral students and supporting research initiatives in the Doctoral Program in Leadership and Innovation, which she co-founded.
Lisette has served in a variety of cross-sector leadership positions. She is an experienced social entrepreneur and public sector leader. She has supported social entrepreneurs, educators and organizational leaders nationally through her work with Lingo Ventures. Lisette has also held senior leadership positions in the municipal and federal government. That includes roles with the Department for Youth and Community Development in the Bloomberg administration, the Corporation for National Service in the Clinton Administration, and the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in the Obama Administration.
Lisette, a policy expert on youth workforce and education, also served as the founding Executive Director of Year Up NY, an innovative workforce development program, where in the span of five years she grew the organization from a $250,000 seed grant to a $6 million operation with over 20 corporate partnerships.
Lisette is a proud first-generation college student who received her B.A. from Brooklyn College, B.A./M.A. from the University of Oxford, an M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and a doctorate with distinction in Higher Education Management at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Truman Scholar, Rhodes Scholar, Aspen Pahara Fellow, 2020 Richard P. Nathan Public Policy Fellow and she is among the 2021 Top 100 Women We Admire in New York State.
