Pamela was on vacation with her family in Mexico when she peeked down a side street and saw half-clothed, unwashed children. In a different world, she might have played tag with them, but here, they were begging just to be able to eat. At twelve years old, she had a clarity many adults lacked—this was unacceptable.

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In 1996, she co-found VolunteerMatch, a cutting-edge nonprofit that used a brand-new technology called the “World Wide Web.” Since then, she has continued volunteering around the world and learned that no matter how much she gave, she always received more back.

 

A practical optimist and winner of the Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service, Pamela united her passion for technology and changing the world with her entrepreneurial spirit to found UniversalGiving, an international nonprofit that has been featured on the homepage of Bloomberg, Oprah.com, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

 

Leading UniversalGiving isn’t a job for Pamela, it is a calling—something she can’t not do. In fact, she does not draw a salary for her work, allowing 100% of donations to go directly to the vetted NGOs they work with.

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Pamela also created and led the San Francisco Commonwealth Club event, featuring Fortune 500 executives. She is a frequent guest lecturer at Stanford, Stanford Business School, USC, UCLA, and UC Berkeley.

 

Anything Pamela does, she does well. She’s an accomplished tech investor, writes a daily blog (Living and Giving) with the mission of “Inspiring Leaders to Live with Excellence and Love” and is a talented actress, dancer, singer, and award-winning improv actress. Pamela lives in the San Francisco Bay area near her family, where she is actively involved in her community.