Theresa Lund is the Executive Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI), and has over 15 years of experience in academic leadership and research positions working to advance our understanding of complex global issues. Theresa joined HHI after a year in Turkey, where she served as a consultant to the provost of Bilkent University and worked with a local humanitarian group providing assistance to Syrian refugees in Ankara.

Previously, Theresa was the Managing Director in the Office of the Dean at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where her role included strategic planning, the capital campaign, and the development of new research and international programs across the design disciplines. She also served as the Senior Associate Director for Research with the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. For nearly a decade, she worked to advance and disseminate evidence-based, experimental research that examines gender gaps in the areas of economic opportunity, political participation, health, and education. The findings from this work have been applied by leading decision-makers across sectors and around the world.

Before joining Harvard, Theresa worked in the private sector as a business strategy consultant, with the US Department of State in Germany, and with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency in Austria. She is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Germany and a US Department of State Critical Language Fellowship to Turkey. Theresa holds a B.A. in International Relations and German from Wellesley College and an Ed.M. in International Education Policy from Harvard University. She has also completed executive education programs in negotiation and crisis leadership at Harvard University, and has served on the Board of Directors for the Fulbright Association of Massachusetts.