Adria Goodson
Director, Global Fellowship Program
Adria Goodson is the director of the Ford Foundation Global Fellowship program. With an unwavering belief that every individual can strengthen their capacity to lead others on behalf of change, Adria has spent almost three decades at the forefront of leadership development and fellowship program design. Her fellowship design work supports leaders as catalysts for positive change through creating spaces and places for individuals to work together to imagine new ideas, drive ethical and compelling institutions, contribute to collaborative efforts, and, most importantly, change systems that perpetuate inequality.
Adria’s career includes serving as the chief program officer for the Pahara Institute, a nonprofit supporting senior education leaders in the US, and as founding director of Hunt Alternatives Fund’s Prime Movers fellowship program. In her decade with the Hunt Alternatives Fund, Adria also served as the chief program officer, overseeing all of the Fund’s grantmaking, including local, domestic, and international efforts. Through her experiences, Adria has learned the art of balancing the creation of strong bridging relationships and the task of acting collectively with concrete actions to challenge and disrupt inequality around the world.
Adria holds a PhD in sociology from Boston College, with a focus on social movement theory, public policy, and philanthropy. She is known as a skillful facilitator, including serving as moderator for the Aspen Institute’s Socratic dialogue method seminars. She was a faculty member at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education from 2010-2020 and has been recognized with fellowships from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Aspen Institute, and Boston College. Adria has authored several publications on leadership and has spoken at various events, including TedxBeaconStreet. In her personal time, she is poet, budding pianist and avid foodie.
