Elena Gibson

Director, The Carry4Good Pledge & Partner at Ashoka

Interviewer

Elena is a Partner at Ashoka Europe where she is part of the strategic partnerships as well as the management team. She is also the co-director of the Ashoka Carry4Good pledge - a concept pioneered by Ashoka that helps forward-thinking VC and Private Equity funds to become agents of change in social impact.

Previously, Elena was the co-director of Ashoka in the UK and Ireland, where she lead a team of 12 to provide strategic support to the most innovative and systems-changing social entrepreneurs in the region.

Before joining Ashoka Elena worked for the Anglo-german think tank Convoco, convening some of Europe's leading thinkers, politicians and high court judges to engage in interdisciplinary debate. Elena obtained a Masters degree in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics where she specialised in the Politics of Climate Change. Before, she studied Business Administration and Management at the Freie Universitaet Berlin.

Elena is passionate about challenging the impact and philanthropy sector to think more systemically. She has over 11 years experience assessing, advising and supporting social entrepreneurs. Today, her focus is on strengthening leadership capacity within Ashoka as well as advising philanthropists and business leaders on how to maximize their impact.