Chief Executive Officer, Skoll Foundation
Don Gips is the chief executive officer of the Skoll Foundation, a global philanthropy with a mission to build a sustainable world of peace and prosperity for all. With a career spanning public service, politics, business, nonprofits and technology, Gips leads the Foundation’s work investing in, connecting, and championing social innovators around the world.
In 2008, Gips helped lead President Barack Obama’s transition team and then served in the White House as his director of presidential personnel at the beginning of the Administration. From there he went on to serve as U.S. ambassador to South Africa from 2009 to 2013, and received the 2010 Sue M. Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service.
During the Clinton Administration, he served as chief domestic policy advisor to Vice President Al Gore and chief of the International Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission. In 1993, he helped create the framework for what would become the U.S. national service program, AmeriCorps.
Gips has also held various roles in the private sector. He currently sits on the board of CassTech, Africa’s leading provider of information and telecommunications services, and is on the board of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund US. He has also served on the boards of Zayo, Mindspeed, Liquid, Omnispace, and Nextnav.
Gips received a master’s in business administration from the Yale School of Management and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. He is married to Elizabeth (Liz) Berry Gips, and the two have three grown sons: Sam, Peter, and Ben.