Alexa Cortés Culwell

Chief Impact Officer, The Sobrato Organization; President, Sobrato Philanthropies

Alexa Cortés Culwell is The Sobrato Organization’s inaugural Chief Impact Officer and President of Sobrato Philanthropies, where she is charged with overseeing a significant portfolio of grantmaking and social purpose real estate. In her role, she also oversees company-wide initiatives focused on the affordable housing gap and sustainability.

Early in her career, Alexa served as the first CEO of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation and as CEO of the Stupski Foundation. Later, she served as a visiting practitioner at Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society before founding Open Impact, a philanthropy advisory firm serving some of the largest and most innovative philanthropists in the world.

Alexa is a co-author of the groundbreaking report, "The Giving Code: Silicon Valley Nonprofits and Philanthropy," which uncovered inadequate giving to community-based organizations and made the case that donors should give more locally. Her work has been cited in publications such as Harvard Business Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and The Economist.

Alexa has been involved with many leading organizations dedicated to the knowledge and practice of philanthropy. She served as a visiting practitioner at Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, and as an Instructor for Stanford Continuing Studies’ highly rated course on nonprofit governance. She has also served as a trustee for both Northern California Grantmakers and the Center for Effective Philanthropy. In 2018, she was the inaugural recipient of the University of San Francisco’s Michael O’Neill Nonprofit Management and Leadership Award. Ms. Culwell is also a longtime Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley.