Nan  Stone

Partner, Boston

"Nonprofit organizations are all about change and transformation: in the lives of individuals, in the well being of particular communities and society overall, in the sustainability of our planet. The opportunity to help them further their missions-by working with them directly as clients and by learning with and from them about what it takes to heighten effectiveness-is a joy as well as a privilege."

Nan Stone joined Bridgespan in January 2002 to lead the firm's knowledge efforts. As Bridgespan's knowledge partner, she works with colleagues and Bridgespan clients to identify and capture the lessons and insights emerging from consulting engagements and to make them broadly accessible. Nan also serves on the Bridgestar editorial board.

Before coming to Bridgespan, Nan spent more than 15 years at the Harvard Business Review, the last five as editor in chief. At HBR, her editorial work spanned every aspect of management thought and practice, from leadership and strategy to finance and organizational behavior. But her very first assignment focused on the management of nonprofit organization, and the topic never lost its appeal: her first initiative upon becoming HBR's editor was to establish a department devoted to social enterprise.

She collaborated on What Management Is, How It Works, and Why It's Everyone's Business (Free Press, 2002), co-authored with Susan Colby and Paul Carttar, “Zeroing in on Impact,” which appeared in the Fall 2004 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and most recently co-authored, “Delivering on the Promise of Nonprofits” with Jeff Bradach and Tom Tierney published in the December 2009 edition of Harvard Business Review.

Over the years, Nan has volunteered in and served on the boards of many community, educational, and religious organizations. Currently she is a trustee of the Cambridge Community Foundation and serves as a liaison between the city of Cambridge Human Services Commission and the Cambridge Community Foundation.

Nan received her AB magna cum laude from Smith College and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She holds a PhD in the History of American Civilization from Harvard University, where she was a Whiting Fellow.