Karen Anderson is the Managing Director of the Social Finance Institute, a field-building platform launched in 2023 within Social Finance to advance outcomes-based approaches to social and economic mobility. She previously helped lead the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago, supporting more than 150 economists in translating research into impact. Anderson has held senior roles across government, think tanks, academia, and the private sector. She served as Senior Advisor to Results for America and Executive Director of Results for All, a global initiative focused on strengthening government effectiveness. Earlier, she was Managing Director of The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution, an economic policy initiative she helped launch in 2006.
A veteran of two White Houses, Anderson was Chief of Staff at the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama and a Regional Coordinator in the Clinton Administration. She also served as Vice President of State and Local Government Relations at Citigroup. She holds an MPP from Harvard Kennedy School and a BA in Economics from Agnes Scott College.