Leading Edge Advisors
Shamsah Ebrahim, Ph.D. serves as a faculty member and coach for the Nonprofit Pilot Program.
Shamsah is the Founder and Principal of Leading Edge Advisors, a social sector consultancy that supports innovative work at the intersections of strategic learning, community impact, equity and organizational improvement.
For 15 years Shamsah has worked with foundations, public institutions, nonprofits and collective impact networks — drawing from the principles and practices of equitable evaluation, emergent learning and human-centered design to enhance effective decision-making, build organizational capacity, and strengthen implementation.
In addition to external consulting, Shamsah brings extensive in-house experience. She has led multi-stakeholder initiatives and organizational improvement efforts in philanthropy, higher education, healthcare and international development.
Shamsah’s ability to build trust and establish rapport is rooted in her experience living and working across North America, as well as in Europe, Asia, and Africa. A Kenyan immigrant of South Asian descent, Shamsah now lives in Northern California. She holds a Ph.D. from MIT and a B.A. from Swarthmore College.