Debra Schwartz

Debra Schwartz

Debra Schwartz leads MacArthur’s Impact Investments program, which has committed more than $750 million to advance equity, inclusion, and sustainability. By providing catalytic capital in the form of patient, flexible and risk-tolerant investments, Debra and the MacArthur Impact Investment team have supported affordable housing, community development, climate solutions, entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, and social innovation. Through complementary grantmaking, the Impact Investment program funds networks, research, and other resources that support and strengthen the impact investing field globally. 

Before joining MacArthur in 1995, Debra was the CFO for a nonprofit child welfare agency in Chicago and an investment banker at John Nuveen & Co. She is a frequent public speaker and guest lecturer at leading universities, including the University of Chicago, where she previously taught as an adjunct professor.

Debra serves as Treasurer for the International Women’s Forum–Chicago Chapter and is a member of the board of directors for the Mission Investors Exchange. In 2022, she was named an inaugural Global Impact Leader by the Sorenson Impact Center. She was a presidential appointee to the U.S. Treasury Department Community Development Advisory Board, a board member for the Yale Club of Chicago Scholarship Foundation, and a Social Enterprise Fellow at the Yale School of Management.

Debra holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA degree from Yale University, summa cum laude.


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