Pat Christen

Pat Christen is a managing director of The Omidyar Group, serving as a senior advisor to philanthropists Pierre and Pam Omidyar. Pat brings curiosity, a sense of humor and a commitment to high accountability to her role, which focuses on cultivating environments of learning, innovation and impact across all Omidyar Group organizations and initiatives.

Prior to joining The Omidyar Group, Pat served as President and CEO of HopeLab, a nonprofit harnessing the power and appeal of technology to improve human health and well-being. Under Pat's leadership for more than a decade, HopeLab's work centered on the development of specially designed technology to drive positive health behavior among youth. HopeLab is currently focused on the research and development of new social technologies to promote human resilience.

Prior to HopeLab, Pat was President and Executive Director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation for 15 years, where she worked with her counterparts nationally to craft the federal Ryan White C.A.R.E. Act. This precedent-setting legislation now generates more than $2 billion annually in funding for AIDS care in the United States.

Pat also served as President of the Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation, establishing AIDS clinics and playing an active role in AIDS-planning efforts globally. As president of Pangaea, she was responsible for the construction of the Infectious Diseases Institute at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, a state-of-the-art AIDS clinic, research, and training center, which opened its doors in August of 2004. Pat has written, studied, and lectured on social and health issues both in the U.S. and abroad. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya, East Africa from 1982–1985. She was a member of the Young Presidents' Organization and is now a member of the Exiles Chapter because she is too old to be considered a "young" president any longer! She is a graduate of Stanford University, where she studied biology and political science. She is also a mother of four, a role that deeply inspires her work.