Meet Karin Lion, Chief Growth & Partnerships Officer
From the DoD, to NGOs, to an MBA, inflections define her path to impact.
We are thrilled to introduce Karin Lion, who joined us in early October as chief growth and partnerships officer—a new and vital role on our executive team, responsible for strengthening Activate’s revenue model and partnership strategy. As you’ll learn below, Karin (pronounced CAR-in) was quite literally born into public service and her path feels rather destined for an organization like ours. The Activate community is incredibly lucky to have her at the helm of our scaling efforts.
When introducing Karin as the student speaker during the Berkeley-Haas MBA for Executives commencement ceremony in 2016, Richard Lyons, then the dean of the Haas School of Business, said that Karin had provoked her classmates and professors to think in new ways. “Talk about impact,” he said. “Talk about ripple effects—she defines these things.”
Our conversation, edited for length and clarity below, makes that obvious.
Q: First, I would love to get a fuller picture of your biography, beyond what one can glean from your LinkedIn profile.
So, starting from the very beginning, I grew up a foreign service brat—the daughter of two foreign service officers. I spent my first 16 years living in developing countries. Given my upbringing, it was always part of my psyche that I wanted to give back and contribute to making the world a stronger, more equitable, healthier place.
One thing about growing up in different cultures and contexts is you have no choice but to be open. There is no right way to do anything and I always wanted to learn and be exposed to new things. When I get too comfortable, I feel as if I’m not learning and so I seek new challenges—and that’s why it might look like I’ve made extreme pivots in my career, but there is a thread that weaves it together.
“I see so much potential for where Activate can go ... I love those turning points for organizations.”
Q: What were those pivots that have ultimately landed you at Activate?
In college I was very affected by 9/11 and I wanted to help make the world a safer place. I went straight to grad school and got a masters in security policy, then went to work for the Defense Department. But the policy world felt very far removed from what was happening on the ground. I didn’t feel like I was utilizing my best skills to really make a difference.
“I wasn’t seeing the step changes needed to really transform peoples’ lives.”
After Hurricane Katrina, I left my job at the DOD and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. Helping rebuild New Orleans was fulfilling on a personal level, but I wasn’t seeing the step changes needed to really transform peoples’ lives. So, looking upstream to what could scale impact, I took a job at The Gates Foundation. I was there from my mid 20s to my mid 30s, so it really informed a lot about what I think about the world, and systems thinking, and capacity, leverage, scale, and all these really important elements of how change happens.I worked internationally and domestically in education, environment, water sanitation, women and girls’ empowerment, and agriculture. It was fascinating, but eventually I wanted new skills that would broaden me and my toolkit, and stretch me.
So after earning my MBA I took an executive role at an organization, Digital Green, in the ag tech space. I joined at a pivotal moment—similar to Activate—where they had been growing and were very opportunistic and doing well, with ambitions to empower more farmers. I was a big part of taking that organization to the next level.
Q: In your Haas business school commencement speech. you told your classmates that they had made you question your assumptions. Can you give some examples of how that experience impacted you and your worldview?
I knew a lot of folks at Gates who had MBAs and noticed that they had a different point of view, the way they approached problems was different. It had been clear to me that although philanthropic capital is vital in supporting innovative research, it’s not enough on its own to turn ideas into products that impact society. I lacked an understanding of market dynamics, and I wanted to see if an MBA could help me adopt that orientation.
“I can make a difference—namely around connecting fellows with resources and partners to help them be successful.”
The program was pivotal. I went from thinking these people only think in terms of profits, to realizing that many of them would become my partners in working to make the world a better place. It’s one reason I’m so happy to have landed at Activate, where we place equal emphasis on impactful science as we do on product-market fit, and why I am so impressed by the fellows we support who embody that rare combination of brilliant scientist and social entrepreneur.
Q: When it comes to this new role that you are pioneering at Activate: What are you most excited about?
I feel really pumped about knowing exactly some of the areas where I can help and make a difference—namely around connecting fellows with resources and partners to help them be successful. And I know where I am going to grow and learn, and that makes me feel very satisfied and fulfilled. I’m most excited about joining Activate right now because I love those turning points for organizations, it’s where strategy comes into play, and I love strategy. We really have a positive outlook. And I love riding that optimist wave. There is power there, and creativity and fun in working together. The energy and excitement throughout the organization really pumps me up and I see so much potential for where Activate can go.
“I’m also really proud to be an openly queer woman in a leadership position.”
I’m also really proud to be an openly queer woman in a leadership position. I know I live in a privileged bubble here in the Bay Area with respect to LGBTQ representation and acceptance, but in previous roles, I haven’t always been able to be open and I haven’t always seen openly gay leadership. So this is really special for me.
Q: To date, relatively few philanthropic dollars have gone towards addressing climate change. ClimateWorks says that in 2019, less than 2 percent of $730 billion in global philanthropic giving was spent fighting climate change. But lately, there is renewed interest and energy in supporting orgs that are directly addressing climate. What’s your take on what’s happening right now in philanthropic giving and how is Activate participating in, or benefitting from, that trend?
One important trend I’m seeing is towards smarter, more leveraged investments. Because there are more than 119,000 philanthropic foundations in the U.S., philanthropic dollars are actually spread thin. So, the trend here is that more people are thinking about leverage. How do we make those dollars that are sitting in a bunch of different buckets work better for the problem we are trying to solve?
“If you’re funding Activate, you’re enabling a whole chain of market-moving tech innovation ... that’s part of our magic”
That’s why Prime Coalition is so important, because they offer leverage for people who want to donate to a good cause but don’t exactly know how. You’re also starting to see DAFs, these are Donor Advised Funds, that are growing in popularity. You see the Climate Leadership Initiative, which advises donors seeking to make impactful philanthropic investments to help solve the climate crisis. All of these examples are about bringing groups of interested donors together.
Likewise, philanthropic dollars invested in Activate are leveraged—I think that’s part of our magic. If you’re funding Activate, you’re enabling a whole chain of market-moving tech innovation, because as a result, our fellows are able to raise even more money into their sectors, and create more jobs and more businesses. So there are huge ripple effects for investors who want to invest in leverage models like the Activate model.
Also, corporate philanthropy is at a really robust moment right now, with recent events putting renewed focus on environmental and social factors, particularly equity and inclusion. At Activate, DEI is more than a checkbox, and we’ve committed to embedding it in our culture, to make a dent in the world of hard tech innovation. And we want to partner with like-minded corporate organizations to make that happen.
But we also know philanthropy isn’t a replacement for public (government) investment in science innovation. We consider the agencies that directly support fellows as key partners in supporting science entrepreneurs to tackle the world's greatest challenges, including the climate crisis. Philanthropic dollars should supplement both public and private capital, which are the bedrocks of sustainability and scale.