Jacqueline Novogratz

Jacqueline Novogratz (born 1961) is an American entrepreneur and author. She is the founder and chief executive of Acumen, a non-profit venture capital fund whose goal is to use entrepreneurial approaches to address global poverty.

Early life Novogratz was born in 1961 in the US, the eldest of seven children. Her father was a career officer and major in the U.S. Army, and her mother, Barbara, ran an antiques business.

She attended Fort Hunt High School in Alexandria, Virginia, and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia, where she studied economics and international relations. Acumen invests patient capital in businesses that provide critical goods and services to people living in poverty. It estimates that it has impacted 648 million people through its investments. Novogratz oversaw the development of Acumen's Fellowship program, which develops leaders for the social sector.

Novogratz serves on the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative, and UNICEF. She also serves on the Aspen Institute board of trustees, the Pakistan Business Council Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business (CERB)], is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, appointed Novogratz to the State Department's Foreign Affairs Policy Board.

The Blue Sweater In 2009, Novogratz published The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World. The book is a firsthand account of her journey from international banker to social entrepreneur and founder of Acumen.

The title of her book, The Blue Sweater, refers to an encounter she had in Kigali, Rwanda. Novogratz spotted a boy wearing a blue sweater. She recognized it as a sweater she had owned and given to Goodwill a decade earlier; it was hers, with her name on the tag. The encounter was an epiphany for Novogratz; her sense of the interconnectedness of our world has continued to influence her current work.

Her brothers include Michael Novogratz and Robert Novogratz.

Awards Forbes magazine's 100 Greatest Living Business Minds, 2017 Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship, 2016 The Resolution Project Champions Circle Award, 2016 Asia Society Game Changer, 2014 Bloomberg Markets 50 Most Influential in Global Finance, 2014 25 Most Successful Stanford Business School Graduates of All time University of Virginia Distinguished Alumna Award, 2013 Middlebury College CSE Vision Award and honorary doctorate, 2013 Notre Dame Award for International Human Development, 2013 Women of Concern Humanitarian Award, 2012 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 2010 Wofford College’s Sandor Teszler Award for Moral Courage and Service to Humankind in Spartanburg, SC, 2010 Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinkers, 2009 Daily Beast's 25 Smartest People of the Decade, 2009 AWNY's Changing the Game Award, 2009 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 Rockefeller Foundation Warren Weaver Fellow Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow

Honorary degrees

Doctor of Humane Letters New England College, 2017 Doctor of Laws, University of Toronto, 2015 Doctor of Humane Letters, Bard College, 2014 Doctorate of Humane Letters, Middlebury College, 2013 Doctor of Laws, University of Notre Dame, 2011 Doctor of Humanities, Wofford College, 2010

Works The blue sweater : bridging the gap between rich and poor in an interconnected world, New York Rodale 2010. Manifesto for a moral revolution : Practices to Build a Better World, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2020.