Tracy Palandjian

Tracy Palandjian, an asian woman, smiling in front of a pink background.

CEO & Co-Founder

2011

Tracy Palandjian is CEO and Co-Founder of Social Finance, a national nonprofit and registered investment advisor 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 two decades to reimagine social and economic systems to enable all people to thrive. 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. Today, Social Finance’s impact investment team designs and manages impact-first investments, including the UP Fund, Pay It Forward Funds, the Dreamers Graduate Loan Fund, the Google Career Certificates Fund, and the Social Finance Impact First Fund. Its advisory team partners with government and philanthropy to implement data-driven programs for social impact. And the Social Finance Institute aims to build the field and scale outcomes-based solutions through actionable research, communities of practice, and educational outreach. To date, Social Finance has mobilized over $350 million in new investments to deliver measurable outcomes in workforce and 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 co-founded the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance, where she serves as Vice Chair. She is member of the board of the International Foundation for Valuing Impacts 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, The Barr 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 and Co-Chair of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. She also served on the boards of Milton Academy and Mass General Brigham. She is 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. 

Insights

2023 in Review
Social Finance team photo

2023 in Review

In 2023, we brought in new leadership and launched innovative initiatives to scale our impact. Download our 2023 Year in Review to read highlights from our talent finance work, the new Social Finance Impact First…

Tracy Palandjian