Episode 20: Cecilia Conrad - Steward of the MacArthur Genius Grants, 100 million dollars, and transcendent empowerment

Cecilia Conrad reimagines what it means to ‘empower,’ embracing the idea throughout her life and transcending it to radically change the world as the steward of the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grants and 100&Change Program. She offers guidance about how to think about empowerment to bring change to our own lives and to connect us with change in the world.

It is with tremendous pleasure that I get to be here (virtually) connected with the brilliant Cecilia Conrad, the Managing Director - really the steward - of the world-changing John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellows and 100&Change programs. But Cecilia’s impact and creativity expand more broadly, into the fields of economics, the impact of race and gender on societal structures, education, poetry, and much more. 

Dr. Conrad received her BA degree from Wellesley College and her PhD in economics from Stanford University. She entered academia as an economics professor at Duke, Barnard College and then Pomona College in 1995, rising from the position of professor to dean, collecting an array of awards for her teaching, leadership, and publications on gender and race in economics - far too many to list here. But a few of my personal favorites are: 1) in 2002 she was named California’s Carnegie Professor of the Year; 2) she received the National Urban League’s 2008 Woman of Power Award; and 3) in 2018 was selected for the National Economic Association’s Samuel Z. Westerfield award.  

In January 2013, Cecilia joined the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, famously known for their Fellows program colloquially known as ‘Genius Grants.’ She oversees the program that has for years been doling out millions of dollars to individuals of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations. 

In addition to her pioneering leadership of the MacArthur Fellows program, Cecilia founded and is the CEO of Lever for Change, a nonprofit affiliate of the MacArthur Foundation whose mission is to unlock philanthropic capital and accelerate solutions to the world’s biggest social challenges. Lever for Change conducts the 100&Change program in cooperation with the Foundation which rewards a single $100 million grant to help solve a critical problem of our time.

Oh and if that wasn’t enough, Cecilia also serves on numerous boards, including the Poetry Foundation. She truly defies boundaries and it was wonderful to have her with us on Origins!