Laurene Powell Jobs

Laurene Powell Jobs, known for her philanthropic work and leadership, is the founder and president of Emerson Collective. Her roles include being the lead investor and chair of The Atlantic and the co-founder and chair of the XQ Institute, an organization dedicated to transforming high school education. A strong advocate for education and better resource allocation, Powell Jobs co-founded College Track in 1997, aiming to improve educational outcomes for students from under-resourced communities. Later, in 2015, she launched a $50 million initiative named XQ: The Super School Project, further demonstrating her commitment to educational innovation.

Powell Jobs has broadened her impact through her involvement with various organizations, serving on the boards of the Ford Foundation, Council on Foreign Relations, Chicago CRED, College Track, and Elemental Impact. In March 2025, she was appointed as co-chair of The Partnership for San Francisco. Two years prior, in 2023, Forbes recognized her as the 25th most powerful woman in the world. Moreover, her commitment to climate change led her to announce the creation of the Waverley Street Foundation in 2021, a climate philanthropy organization which she backed with an initial investment of $3.5 billion.

Her contributions to society have earned her numerous recognitions. In 2018, Powell Jobs was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for her contributions to public affairs and public policy. The following year, she received the Ernest C. Arbuckle Award from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In 2025, she was conferred an honorary doctorate by the Chiba Institute of Technology for her societal contributions and was awarded the Gross National Happiness Medal by the Kingdom of Bhutan.