Tracy Palandjian

Tracy Pun Palandjian is an American nonprofit executive, impact investment leader, and co-founder and chief executive officer of Social Finance, a national nonprofit organization and registered investment advisor.^[1]  Since its founding in 2011, Social Finance has been involved in the development of outcomes based funding models, Pay for Success financing, impact investing, and public-private partnerships aimed at improving economic mobility, health, workforce development, and housing outcomes in the United States.^[2]

Palandjian is a member of the Harvard Corporation, Harvard University’s highest governing board.^[3] She serves on several philanthropic boards, including the Barr Foundation^[4], Surdna Foundation^[5], and The Boston Foundation. She is also co-founder and vice chair of the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance.^[6]

Palandjian was born and raised in Hong Kong. She moved to the United States at age 14 to attend Milton Academy. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a B.A. in Economics, and later earned an M.B.A. with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar.^[7]

Palandjian held early professional roles at McKinsey & Company and Wellington Management.f She later joined the Parthenon Group where she became a managing director  and led the firm's Nonprofit Practice.^[8]

From 1999 to 2010, Palandjian served as a Managing Director at The Parthenon Group (subsequently EY-Parthenon).^[1] She founded and led the Nonprofit Practice. Her work focused on advising foundations, NGOs, and other social sector institutions on strategy, social innovation, and organizational effectiveness.^[9]

In 2011, Palandjian co-founded Social Finance with Sir Ronald Cohen and David Blood. The organization has been involved in seeding the field of Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) and other outcomes-based models as well as impact-first investing approaches in the United States. Pay for Success financing models mobilize private capital to support social programs, with government repayment contingent on measurable improvements in outcomes.^[10] Other impact-first investment approaches focus on market-based solutions to social and environmental challenges. ^[11]

Palandjian has been active in public discussions on workforce development, particularly related to the future of work and workers, and the state of economic mobility in the U.S. .^[1] She has advocated for financing structures that  link funding to employment outcomes such as job placement, earnings increases and credential attainment.^[3]  

At the 2025 Harvard Climate Symposium, Palandjian discussed, alongside Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, workforce needs for the state’s climate transition, noting that Massachusetts must train approximately 34,000 additional green-energy workers to meet 2030 goals.^[12] Social Finance manages the Climate Careers Fund, which provides no-interest financing for climate-related job training programs.^[13]

Social Finance also manages the $100 million Google Career Certificates Fund launched in 2022 in partnership with Google Alphabet. The program provides job-training support, wrap around services and no-interest outcomes-based financing, with the goal of enabling more than 20,000 low income students seeking career credentials achieve $1 billion in income gains over ten years.^[14]

Palandjian has also implemented innovative financing models for community college students by covering transportation, childcare, and other basic needs, with repayment contingent on students securing well-paying jobs.^[15]

Palandjian  was elected in 2022 to the Harvard Corporation.^[3] She previously served on the Harvard Board of Overseers (2012–2018)^[16] and participated in presidential search processes in 2017^[17] and 2022.^[18] She has also served on several Harvard visiting committees, including those for the Business School, the College, the Division of Continuing Education, and the Kennedy School.^[3]

In the philanthropic and non profit sector, Palandjian serves as a trustee of the Barr Foundation^[19] and as a director of the Surdna Foundation (2013–2025)^[20] and The Boston Foundation (2020–present).^[21] She is the co-founder and vice chair of the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance. She was also a director of Mass General Brigham, one of the largest academic hospital systems in the United States.^[1] From 2011 to 2014, Palandjian chaired the board of Facing History and Ourselves.^[2]

During the 2023–2024 academic year, Harvard faced significant controversy following the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war.^[22] Media reports described tensions within the university’s governance structure, including accounts of a faculty dinner where Palandjian was alleged to have criticized then-president Claudine Gay, a characterization that she and several other attendees publicly disputed.^[23]

Palandjian has written and spoken about outcomes-based financing, impact investing, and approaches that align capital with measurable social results. She argues  that traditional program funding often pays for activities rather than results.^[2] She has emphasized that outcomes-based finance can help government and philanthropy become “more accountable, data-driven, and prevention-oriented,” particularly in areas such as workforce development, health, education, and homelessness.^[24]

Her commentary often addresses that complex problems, from expanding access to child care to reviving the American Dream and increasing economic mobility, demand new approaches, and that these new approaches often require a tailored combination of capital, market-based tools and cross-sector partners to achieve results.^[25]

A recurring theme in her public remarks is the importance of redesigning training and education systems to create opportunities for people and places that have been left behind and “ultimately strengthening the economy and democracy.”^[26]

Palandjian has highlighted that many workers especially those from low-income backgrounds require supportive financing structures that cover both tuition and living expenses, noting that often lack of housing, transportation and childcare are a major barrier to completion of job training and community college programs.^[27]

More recently, she has highlighted the workforce implications of climate policy, noting that meeting state and national decarbonization goals will require large scale training of new skilled workers and worker-friendly financing models that expand access to green jobs training.^[12]

• Palandjian, T.; X, Briggs (2025). "Innovative Financing for Infrastructure and Energy Job Training: Partnerships to Expand Economic Mobility, Competitiveness, and Sustainability - Workforce Realigned". workforcerealigned.org. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
• Palandjian, Tracy. "Cutting Costs Alone Won't Make Government More Efficient". TIME. Archived from the original on 2025-06-23. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
• Palandjian, Tracy; Brest, Paul. "After the Pandemic: Addressing the Permanent Crisis With Pay for Success Programs (SSIR)". ssir.org. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
• Palandjian, Tracy; Hughes, Jane. "A Strong Field Framework for SIBs (SSIR)". ssir.org. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
• Palandjian, T.; Giddens, M. (2010). "Investing for Impact: Case Studies Across Asset Classes". The GIIN. Retrieved 2025-12-15.

• 2018: Robert F. Kennedy Embracing the Legacy Award^[27]
• 2019: Alumni Achievement Award, Harvard Business School^[28]
• 2022: Fellow, Harvard Corporation^[29][30]
• 2022: Elected member, American Philosophical Society^[31]
• 2022: Elected member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences^[32]

Palandjian is married to Leon A. Palandjian, M.D., whom she met at Harvard during their undergraduate studies.^[33] They live in Belmont, Massachusetts, and have three daughters.^[3]