Michelle Leonard serves as the Director of Data Science for Innovation at The Rockefeller Foundation, where she leads a team of AI experts focused on developing innovative data solutions that directly contribute to the Foundation’s mission of promoting global well-being.
Furthering this commitment, Michelle heads up FRIDAI — Foundations for Research and Innovation in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence — a group of data practitioners advancing state-of-the-art techniques within philanthropy.
Before joining The Rockefeller Foundation, Michelle worked in the nonprofit sector, leading strategy tool development and opportunity discovery through data mining disparate data sources. She also led enterprise initiatives in survey research, data visualizations, and text classification, all aimed at improving organizational impact.
Michelle has a MS in Information Science from St. John’s University and a BA from St. Olaf College.
Authored Content
Apr 26 2022 Grantee Impact Story Map Visualization Turns Millions of Data Points Into Actionable Insights for Policymakers in Denmark and Beyond