Kristen Gowen-MacDonald serves as Managing Director of Operations at Social Venture Partners Arizona, where she leads the infrastructure and operations that support the organization’s continued growth and impact across the Valley.
She brings more than a decade of experience building and scaling operations in both nonprofit and venture-backed startup environments. Most recently, Kristen served as Director of Finance & Operations at Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation, where she built the organization’s first integrated finance and operations function to support statewide growth. Earlier in her career, she held operations leadership roles in VC-backed biotech startups and led hundreds of large-scale stakeholder events.
A Valley native, Kristen lives in Phoenix with her husband and two daughters and is a self-proclaimed bird nerd who enjoys spending time outdoors with family and friends.