Abby Falik is an award-winning entrepreneur, movement-builder and visionary who believes when we learn on purpose, we lead that way, too.

Named one of the “Most Creative People in Business,” by Fast Company, and selected as one of Goldman Sachs’ “Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” four times, Abby’s work has been profiled by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, PBS, The Chronicle of Philanthropy and The Chronicle of Higher Education. She was named one of America's Top 25 Philanthropy Speakers by The Business of Giving, and is a frequent speaker at prominent global forums from the Aspen Ideas Festival to the Milken Institute Global Conference. For her achievements as a social entrepreneur she has been recognized as an Ashoka Fellow, a Draper Richards Kaplan Fellow, and a Harvard Business School Fellow.

After winning Harvard’s Pitch for Change in 2008, Abby founded Global Citizen Year, an acclaimed Fellowship that used the transition after high school to help next generation leaders find their purpose, their people and their power to drive real change. As CEO she raised and deployed over $65M in scholarships and equipped thousands of diverse, emerging adults to experience and impact their world.

In 2022, she joined the Emerson Collective as an Entrepreneur in Residence to incubate new opportunities to transform how young people learn, launch and lead. She spent a year exploring educational models around the world with her family in tow – practicing what she’s preached about the power of transitions, and the promise of "learning on purpose."

Today she is writing a book, launching a TV show and architecting a movement to make a Purpose Year after high school an aspirational, accessible and transformative rite of passage for young people worldwide.

Abby serves on the Advisory Boards of World Learning, Teach for All, and Harvard Business School, and is a member of Fast Company’s Impact Council.

She received a B.A. in International Relations and an M.A. in International Comparative Education from Stanford University, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

She lives in Oakland with her husband and young sons.