Lisette Nieves is currently the President of the Fund for the City of New York (FCNY).
Prior to the Fund, Lisette was the Director of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and a Full Clinical Professor at NYU Steinhardt. Lisette is also a Distinguished Clinical Instructor with NYU, overseeing doctoral students and supporting research initiatives. Lisette holds a B.A. from Brooklyn College, a B.A./M.A. from the University of Oxford, an M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and a doctorate with distinction in Higher Education Management at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Truman Scholar, Rhodes Scholar, Aspen Pahara Fellow, and a Richard P. Nathan Public Policy Fellow.
For over 25 years, Lisette has served in various cross-sector leadership positions. Lisette founded Lingo Ventures and served as the Belle Zeller Distinguished Visiting Professor in Public Policy at the CUNY at Brooklyn College. Lisette has also held senior leadership positions in the municipal and federal government. She also served as an Obama appointee on the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, where she co-chaired the higher education subcommittee and supported the production of two reports and convenings. Lisette also served as the founding Executive Director of Year Up NY, where she grew the organization from a $250,000 seed grant to a $6 million operation.
Her board affiliations include The Education Trust, NewSchools Venture Fund, Jobs for the Future, Propel America, AmeriCorps Board (Presidential Appointee and Senate Confirmed), Exalt and Education for Seapower Advisory Board (Naval Secretary Appointee).