Lance Pierce is a twice successful, two-time award-winning nonprofit CEO, board member, strategic advisor, and former Fortune 11 CSR executive having worked with nonprofit organizations, companies, universities, boards, startups, philanthropy, and impact/sustainable investors. He has built trusted relationships that have led to tens of millions of dollars in grantmaking in support of communities around the world and his expertise includes strategic planning, public policy, crisis/change management, digital and data, public communication, internal capacity building, and coaching and development of talent, teams, and culture. He is known as a dedicated listener, a trust and consensus builder, and a collaborative leader at all levels of the organization, from the board to entry level staff, and has made a specialty out of helping nonprofits, boards, funders, and teams navigate new or challenging moments to create novel opportunity, resources, and enthusiasm in service to their missions.

Lance’s executive roles include CEO of NetHope, a 25-year-old nonprofit membership organization, and a partnership between Silicon Valley and the world’s leading global humanitarian, development, and conservation organizations. NetHope is focused on the “New Digital Divides” of digital inclusion, innovation and AI, and digital for conservation and humanitarian emergency response. In 2024, NetHope member organizations represented more than 60% of all global aid funding passing through the nonprofit sector globally. Lance has also been President and CEO of CDP North America, the world’s largest nonprofit platform for investors, corporations and cities to voluntarily share data, manage performance and build action programs on environment, climate, energy, water, forests and sustainable supply chains. Under Lance’s leadership, both NetHope and CDP North America grew by more than 3x, saw double digit rises in staff and client satisfaction, built multi-million-dollar reserve funds, and engaged in significant internal system and capacity building. He has also worked in both CSR and in university settings. Following graduate school, Lance was tapped by leading Harvard Business School faculty to serve as the project director for the launch of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative, a university-wide collaboration across all Harvard’s graduate schools helping experienced public sector and private sector leaders create new social, environmental, and philanthropic impact initiatives. In corporate social responsibility and corporate public affairs, he served as Director, Corporate Issues Management for the formerly largest food and consumer packaged goods company in the world, Fortune 11, Altria Group. There he lead teams providing analysis up to the company’s C-suite and business leaders in the areas of human rights, marketplace issues, and economic impact in value chain sourcing and manufacturing communities.

Over his career Lance has worked in or been involved with a variety of cause-related sectors, including the environment and conservation, international development, community development, education, public health, arts and media, sustainability, and humanitarian response. He currently sits on the boards of Helvetas USA, the US arm of the oldest and largest international development organization in Switzerland, and Vitas Group, a microfinance firm with a more than $250 million lending portfolio serving Eastern Europe. In 2024 and in 2025 he was twice named to the “Power and Influence 50” list of nonprofit executives by the Non-profit Times. Lance has an MA from New York University in Anthropology and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School, and he began his career working directly in communities as a US Peace Corps Volunteer.

LinkedIn: Lance Pierce