Padmini Parthasarathy, Principal and Founder, Sāmya Strategies
Padmini Parthasarathy is a social sector leader with a proven record of success in philanthropy, nonprofits, and local government, and expertise in economic, racial, and gender justice, and public health. In her role at the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, she served as a radical advocate for justice and liberation, implementing the Fund’s strategy to become an equitable, learning organization that approaches its mission and grantmaking through the lenses of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Prior to joining the Fund, she was a program director at The California Wellness Foundation, overseeing statewide grantmaking to advance the Affordable Care Act and health care reform, and promote employment and asset-building opportunities. Before that, Padmini was a program manager for Kaiser Permanente, where she managed its nationwide Community Health Needs Assessment, and she worked for Contra Costa Health Services’ Family, Maternal and Child Health Programs, leading an initiative to incorporate asset building into maternal and child health programs.
Padmini serves as the co-chair of the Asset Funders Network’s national board of directors and as a member of the AFN Bay Area chapter steering committee and is a 2020-21 Council on Foundations Career Pathways fellow. She also has been a fellow in Grantmakers in Health’s Terrance Keenan Institute for Emerging Leaders in Health Philanthropy, and she was an inaugural member of the Justice Funders’ Harmony Initiative leadership program. Padmini earned her master’s degree in public health from UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and social behavior, with a minor in sociology, from UC Irvine.