Ana L. Oliveira

(She/Her)

President & CEO

The New York Women's Foundation

Ana L. Oliveira has been a voice and a force for change in improving the lives of those people in the greatest need for more than 30 years. As President and CEO, she leads The New York Women’s Foundation mission to create an equitable and just future for women and families. During her tenure with The Foundation, Ana has increased annual grantmaking from $1.7M to more than $114M distributed to over 500 organizations today, impacting millions of women and girls since its creation in 1987. 

Under Ana’s leadership, The Foundation focuses on funding organizations by and for women of color, having constituted itself as the preeminent funder for gender and racial justice in New York. The Foundation has also increased its presence in philanthropy, working side by side other partners in two collaborative funds – the Girls and Young Women of Color Fund and the Justice Fund. The Foundation has also co-founded a very successful and first national collaborative that centers and focuses on young women of color and hosts the National Collaborative of the Young Women’s Initiative, with more than 11 women’s foundations participating currently. Additionally, The Foundation is a pioneer in igniting many cultural justice movements of today, including Me Too and the closing of Rikers Island. 

Ana has led critical cross-sectoral partnerships to advance women’s rights as a former Commissioner of Human Rights for the NYC Commission, and sits on the Independent Commission to Study Criminal Justice Reform in NYC. She has also served as a member of the New York City HIV Planning Council and the New York City Commission on AIDS, and Ana has chaired the NYC Commission for LGBTQ Runaway Homeless Youth as well as Mayor Bloomberg’s Young Men’s Initiative. 

Before joining The Foundation, Ana’s career focused on issues surrounding substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, and incarceration. Ana has served as Executive Director of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), previously led and directed innovative community-based programs at Samaritan Village and the Osborne Association, and was responsible for developing the first acupuncture detoxification clinic for methadone and alcohol-involved patients in her capacity as Substance Abuse Specialist at Kings County Addictive Diseases Hospital. 

In early 2021, Ana joined the Board of Directors for Point Source Youth, a national nonprofit to end homelessness in 50 cities and towns in 10 years. She currently serves as an Advisory Committee Member to the Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy. Ana has served as a board member for Philanthropy New York and served on and chaired committees for Women’s Funding Network. Ana attained her M.A. in Medical Anthropology and a Ph.D. (hon) from the New School for Social Research. She was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and resides in New York.