Sophie Fanelli is President of the Stuart Foundation, a family foundation that has worked for four decades in California and Washington state to cultivate the conditions for adolescents to thrive. Sophie has spent her entire career working for social change as an advocate, a coalition builder, and now in philanthropy.

Trained as a lawyer in France, Italy, and at the University of Texas, Austin, Sophie came to the Foundation following work on criminal justice issues, which inspired an understanding that well-resourced public schools constitute society’s best platform for setting upward youth trajectories at scale and for strengthening an inclusive multiracial democracy. Previously, Sophie worked at the Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA) at UCLA and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.  Sophie serves on the Boards of Grantmakers for Education, the Philanthropic Collaborative for Education, and the National Center for Youth Law. She also serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for Effective Philanthropy.

The daughter of a music critic and social justice activists, Sophie has moved to a lifetime soundtrack of jazz, blues, and politics. She was incredibly lucky to spend several summers abroad as a teenager, traveling, living with host families and volunteering, which transformed her understanding of the world and shaped her commitment to justice and opportunity for young people.

When not working or arguing about ideas, she can be found playing with her dog, hiking, cooking, playing tennis and pickleball, reading, and negotiating what to stream with her partner, a high school teacher, and stepson. In addition to English, she is fluent in French and Italian.