Melissa Stevens is executive vice president of philanthropy at the Milken Institute, leading its work with individual and family philanthropists and foundations seeking to make a transformative, sustainable impact. Since co-founding MI Philanthropy in 2015, she has overseen the creation and execution of philanthropic strategies that have influenced more than $3 billion in capital and built an unmatched network for donors to collaborate and amplify their impact. Under her leadership, MI Philanthropy has more than tripled in size, expanding areas of expertise to include environment and social innovation philanthropy, as well as the Institute’s Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC). Previously, Stevens was the deputy executive director of FasterCures at the Milken Institute, leading its growth and expanding its programmatic scope to include the development of a novel financing mechanism for early-stage drug development and building a global resource for large-scale, cross-sector collaboration. Prior to joining the Institute, Stevens worked in PwC’s health sciences practice advising commercial and federal clients such as the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development. Stevens received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and an MBA from The Pennsylvania State University. She is based at the Institute's Washington, DC office.
