President, Valhalla Foundation
Sara Allan is president of Valhalla Foundation, where she leads Valhalla’s people and strategy to drive meaningful and measurable improvement in outcomes in Valhalla’s six issue areas: early childhood development, K-12 education, data science education, environmental innovation, medical research & talent, and collaborative philanthropy. Before Valhalla, Sara was the Director in the U.S. Education Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She joined the foundation in 2011 as the Deputy Director of the K-12 team, and during her tenure led the foundation’s work to expand research and development of promising solutions to longstanding challenges that prevent students from reaching their full potential. Most recently, she led the foundation’s program work in early learning and education pathways.
Previously, Sara served as Executive Director of System Planning and Performance at Portland Public Schools and spent 8 years as strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. She serves as a board member and advisor to mission-focused organizations and was a recipient of the Broad Residency in Urban Education and a Presidential Leadership Scholar. Sara lives in Seattle and is the proud mother of three young adults.