Board Director
Liesel Pritzker Simmons is Co-Founder and Principal of Blue Haven Initiative, a family office dedicated to investing for-profit and non-profit capital to solve social problems. BHI is currently focused on new opportunities in emerging markets as well as the United States.
She is the Co-Founder of the IDP Foundation, Inc. (www.idpfoundation.org) a private foundation with a mission to mobilize resources and strategic support to increase educational opportunities. Established in 2008, the IDP Foundation has supported and developed a wide range of programs in the education sectors most notably the innovative IDP Rising Schools Program in Ghana, which leverages microfinance networks to empower nearly 200 low cost private schools with trainings and financial services.
Liesel is a Co-Founder of Opportunity International’s Young Ambassadors for Opportunity (YAO), a global network of young professionals who are passionate about microfinance. She serves on the boards of Waste Enterprisers, Eco-Post, and Synergos. Liesel attended Columbia University, where she studied African History. She lives in the Boston area with her husband, Ian Simmons.