President and CEO, Taproot Foundation
Liz Hamburg is the President and CEO of the Taproot Foundation, a U.S. based nonprofit connecting nonprofits and social change organizations with skilled volunteers through pro bono service. Liz is a seasoned executive who is passionate about making an impact in the world. Liz has over 20 years of experience starting up and growing innovative organizations both in the U.S. and international markets.
Liz was the founding New York board chair of the Women’s Initiative for Self Employment, one of the largest domestic micro-enterprise training organizations working with low income women to help them start and grow businesses.
Liz was a founding member of the advisory boards of the Brown University Entrepreneurs Program and the entrepreneur board of Venture for America and has served on the New York Advisory Board of Astia.
She was founder & president of Upstart Ventures, involved in the start-up and growth of over 15 new businesses, including ApplyWise, an education technology company. Liz was a member of the founding management team and board member of Vimpel Communications, one of the leading cellular operators in Russia and the first Russian company listed on the NYSE.
Liz received an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a B.A. from Brown University. In 2010, she attended the Executive Education program in Social Entrepreneurship at Stanford Business School.
She is a Tendrel Champion in New York.
A native New Yorker, Liz has Liz has traveled extensively to over 35 countries and lived and worked in Russia and Japan. She speaks Italian and Japanese with conversational knowledge of Spanish and Russian.
