Ariel Schwartz

Ariel Schwartz (she/her) is Managing Director at the Center for Social Impact Strategy (CSIS) at the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to her current position, Ariel was a post-doctoral fellow at CSIS, 2016-2018.

During her time at Penn, Ariel has taught classes in Penn’s Nonprofit Leadership master’s program, including Social Entrepreneurship, Social Innovation, and International Development. Ariel has also taught a Social Entrepreneurship at Princeton University. As a social researcher, Ariel studies how grassroots social sector organizations can make good use of donor-funded computing technology. During her dissertation data collection, Ariel was based at the Technology for Emerging Markets Group at Microsoft Research, India, to study women community health workers’ use of mobile phones.

Previously, Ariel was Research Development Specialist at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, and Program Manager at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, both at Columbia University. In 2008, Ariel co-founded Maria’s Libraries, a US-based not-for-profit organization striving in Kenya for information access and social, political, economic, and cultural development through community libraries.

Ariel received her BA and MPA degrees from Cornell University, and her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. Ariel also enjoys riding her bike, cultivating plants, and enjoying forested and other outdoor spaces.