Isabelle Hau

Isabelle C. Hau has devoted her professional life to understanding, researching, innovating, and building a bright future of learning where all children thrive. She is passionate about learning being one of the most powerful means in creating opportunities for each and every child.

She is the inaugural executive director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, a Stanford-wide initiative to connect researchers across disciplines, and bridge research, practice, and policy, that leverages the revolution in brain and learning sciences, data, and technology to create more effective and equitable learning solutions across the lifespan. She was a founding partner at Imaginable Futures, a venture of the Omidyar Group, the philanthropic investment firm of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam. Prior, she led the U.S. education initiative, portfolio and team at Omidyar Network. In this role, she scaled impact-driven education nonprofit and for-profit organizations, including multiple impact unicorns. Her work has directly impacted millions of learners and families.

Isabelle has held numerous governance roles, and she currently serves as a director on the boards of EDC and Sonen. She regularly judges education innovation competitions around the world. Examples include the 2022 LEGO Foundation’s $143 million early childhood challenge, the 2020 and 2022 MacArthur Foundation’s $100 million challenges, the 2023 MIT Solve’s LEAP Challenge, and the 2024 AERDF $25 million challenge. Prior, she was an executive director at Morgan Stanley and a director at ImpactAssets. Isabelle is a contributor to Forbes and EdSurge publications. She writes a popular weekly newsletter Small Talks. At Stanford University, Isabelle teaches the class “Design to Equip Learners in Under-Resourced Communities.” She is the author of the book “Love to Learn: The Transformative Power of Care and Connection in Early Education” to be published in February 2025 by PublicAffairs, part of the Hachette Group.

Isabelle was awarded the 2024 ASU-GSV Women in AI award, the 2021 Global MindED Inclusive Leader Award in Early Childhood Education. She was honored as 100 Inspiring Women at Harvard Business School. She co-starred with Grover of Sesame Street on early childhood innovation. Isabelle earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and graduated from ESSEC and Sciences Po Paris.