Bryna Lipper has held leadership roles in government, non-profit, and private sector organizations dedicated to civic, social, cultural, and environmental progress.

Upon joining the Carnegie Mellon University doctoral program in Transition Design, she became Chief Innovation Officer for the Humboldt Area and Wild Rivers Community Foundation. Prior to that she was the Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer leading its reorganization, regional expansion, and strategic focus toward developing a just, thriving, healthy, and equitable region, including co-founding the Climate and Community Resilience Hub (CORE HUB) of the Redwood Region. Previously, she was Co-Founder and Senior Vice President for 100 Resilient Cities by the Rockefeller Foundation. She led the design and implementation of its urban resilience practice, global network, and governmental relationships within 47 nations around the world. She also held the roles of (Acting) Director of Philanthropic Research and Initiatives for the Office of International and Philanthropic Innovation (IPI) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Vice President for Marketing, Communications, and Government Affairs at the National Building Museum.

She currently serves on the Board of Northern California Grantmakers (NCG) and the Advisory Committee of the Pacific Offshore Wind Consortium. She was a past Chair of the Disaster Response and Resilience Fund at the League of California Community Foundations. She was a Harvard GSD Loeb Fellow and a Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities PLACES Fellow, and awarded the Australian Advancement for Architecture prize. Bryna holds a Bachelor of Design in Architecture from the University of Sydney and a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.