Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Nonprofit Sustainability, PP

NYASHA NYAMAPFENE - MBA, MPP

University of Chicago

12.04.2020​

Nyasha Nyamapfene is a social innovator with a lifelong commitment to equity, social change, and service. She has an established track record of designing and scaling social innovations that address the most pressing issues of urban communities. She currently serves as Founder of Transcend Health Media – a health communications platform created to develop content, breakthrough health activations, and cause-related partnerships. Nyasha is also a Member of the Economic Club of Chicago, and a Board member of the Chicago Community Land Trust. Nyasha also serves as the Benefit Chicago Advisory Board Member, a collaboration of the MacArthur Foundation, which mobilizes $100 million in impact investments for Chicago nonprofits and social enterprises. Nyasha’s career has spanned public, private, nonprofit, and entrepreneurial sectors. A former finance professional, she has worked in Chicago and London in investment banking, private equity, private placements, and mergers & acquisitions. She has worked at companies including JP Morgan Chase, Shore Bank Capital, and $15 billion hedge fund Magnetar Capital. Nyasha also spent over 10 years in urban education reform in Chicago after being recruited to the Broad Residency in Education, a national executive development program that recruits experienced business and policy leaders into the k12 ed sector. Social innovations Nyasha has developed and scaled include: Gospel Run. Nyasha is the Founder of Gospel Run, a nationally recognized public health platform created to close the health gap and change the health narrative in urban communities. The organization launched a faith-based health and wellness lifestyle brand in 2013 and created a new category in the endurance running segment - the Gospel Run 5K. It is the first and largest endurance event of its kind in the country. 6to16. Nyasha spent four years in innovation at the University of Chicago developing and scaling 6to16 - a college-readiness intervention starting at sixth grade and integrating digital learning with traditional classroom curricula. The project design was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and 6to16 has reached over 16,000 students since inception. The Magnetar Investment Academy. Spending six years with the Magnetar Capital Foundation, the development, and scaling of its flagship work in financial education, a curriculum-centered program designed to teach high school students about the financial markets. The intervention reached 10,000+students in its first 5 years. It reaches both high school students which include public, , charter, selective enrollment, and independent schools.