Tracy Palandjian

Tracy Palandjian is CEO and Co-Founder of Social Finance, a national nonprofit that builds innovative partnerships and investments to measurably improve lives. Since 2011, the firm has pioneered impact-first investments including the Social Impact Bond and the Career Impact Bond to mobilize capital at scale and deliver sustainable impact for people and communities across the United States.

Tracy has worked for over a decade to reimagine the role of the capital markets in enabling social progress. Building on the Social Impact Bond pioneered by Social Finance UK, Tracy co-founded Social Finance in the United States in 2011 with Sir Ronald Cohen and David Blood. In the early years, Social Finance led the development of the Pay for Success field in the U.S., including the passage of historic federal legislation in 2018. The firm became a fund manager in 2019 to launch the Career Impact Bond to advance economic mobility. In 2021, Social Finance developed the Dreamers Graduate Loan Program. Social Finance also builds impact-first investments for donor-advised funds and private foundations, aiming to unlock the $1.5+ trillion of charitable assets toward greater social impact. To date, Social Finance has mobilized over $350 million in new investments to deliver measurable outcomes in education, economic mobility, health, and housing. 

Prior to Social Finance, Tracy was a Managing Director for eleven years at The Parthenon Group, where she established and led the Nonprofit Practice and worked with foundations and NGOs to accomplish their missions in the U.S. and globally. Tracy also worked at Wellington Management Company and McKinsey & Company.

A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, Tracy is a frequent speaker and writer on ESG and impact investing, social innovation, and results-oriented policymaking. She is an author of Workforce Realigned: How New Partnerships Are Advancing Economic Mobility, a book and podcast series published by Social Finance and the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and Philadelphia, and co-author of “Investing for Impact: Case Studies Across Asset Classes.” Tracy is also Vice Chair of the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance and a Trustee of the Global Steering Group on Impact Investing.  

Tracy is a member of the Harvard Corporation and serves on the boards of The Surdna Foundation and The Boston Foundation. She is an Independent Director of Affiliated Managers Group (NYSE: AMG). Previously, Tracy was Board Chair of Facing History and Ourselves, Co-Chair of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and Vice Chair of the Harvard Board of Overseers. She also served on the boards of Milton Academy and Mass General Brigham. In recognition of her efforts to improve the lives of children and families, Tracy received the Embracing the Legacy Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps in 2018. She is also a 2019 recipient of Harvard Business School’s Alumni Achievement Award.

A native of Hong Kong, Tracy is fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin. She graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. magna cum laude in Economics and holds an M.B.A. with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar.