Noah Isserman

Noah Jacobsen Isserman (born November 26, 1984) is an American public intellectual, entrepreneur, and innovation strategist. Isserman is a leading researcher in the fields of "venture philanthropy" and innovative funding mechanisms for civil society. He is the Director of Social Innovation at the University of Illinois, where he is a professor, and founder of the iVenture Accelerator, an innovation center that's helped students launch over 70 startup ventures and raise over $30 million from investors. Isserman’s research has been funded by the US State Department and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since 2006, Isserman has served as founder and president of Global Partnerships & Strategy (GPS) Advisory, a social purpose consultancy. In 2003, Isserman was named Illinois High School Journalist of the Year.
As an undergraduate, Isserman attended Amherst College where he served as student body vice president and was a forward on Amherst's varsity soccer team. Isserman was named a 2008 Gates Cambridge Scholar by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and provided a full scholarship to the University of Cambridge in England. Isserman was one of forty-five Americans selected and the inaugural Gates Cambridge Scholar from Amherst College. Isserman’s Cambridge thesis was awarded the Gabriel Rudney Memorial Award for Outstanding Dissertation and recognized as “an important contribution to the field.” Multiple program graduates have been recognized as Forbes 30 Under 30 honorees including MakerGirl, OptiVolt, and Cast21.
Isserman was also named Director of Social Innovation for the University of Illinois "to create initiatives advancing social innovation, a priority in the University’s strategic plan." Isserman's mandate is to increase the "social value created by the University’s teaching, research and social entrepreneurship." Isserman's research into innovative funding mechanisms for civil society, as a professor in the Gies College of Business and School of Social Work, has been "hailed as a major contribution to research in venture philanthropy." Isserman credits conversations with Bill and Melinda Gates for inspiring his work.<ref name="Gates Cambridge 2013"/>
In 2006, Isserman founded Global Partnerships & Strategy (GPS) Advisory, a social purpose consultancy. He serves as the firm's President.<ref name"Gates Cambridge 2021"/> Previously, Isserman served as CEO of two companies he helped found — MAStorage, Inc. and WholeData, LLC, an economic data firm acquired by the Upjohn Institute.<ref name"Gates Cambridge 2021"/>

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