Jessica Williams-Szenes
Senior Director
Jessica is a senior leader in ViaNova’s Individuals and Families practice, where she works with clients across a broad range of issues and approaches to define and advance their impact goals.
She is a seasoned philanthropy professional with over 15 years of experience directing grantmaking portfolios across gender equity, civic engagement, and human rights within foundations and with families and individuals. As Director of the Gender and Reproductive Equity Portfolio at Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Jessica led initiatives building grantee capacity and resilience and managed strategy, learning, and collaboration workstreams across the team’s multi-issue portfolio. Prior to that, as Program Director at the Overbrook Foundation, Jessica established the Foundation’s first rapid response fund and partnered with the Board to increase investment and create a pro-democracy portfolio that remains active today.
Jessica brings deep experience in family philanthropy in both consulting and staff roles focused on long-term strategic planning, board engagement and learning, and preparing the next generation for philanthropic service. Across roles at the TCC Group, Educational Foundation of America, and beyond, Jessica has partnered with families to design grantmaking processes, evaluation approaches, curricula for next-generation family members, and mentorship structures for emerging family members and board trustees. She approaches strategic planning and change management work with a strong equity lens and a focus on outcomes, helping donors and families translate their values into clear and lasting impact. Her work benefits from her wide-ranging curiosity, knack for asking the right questions, and intuitive understanding of how to center joy and partnership in philanthropic work.
Jessica holds a BA from Macalester College and an MPA from New York University's Wagner School of Public Service. She lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, with her spouse, two children, and a very unwieldy garden.
