PENNY ABEYWARDENA

Penny Abeywardena has held leadership roles in philanthropy, non-profit, government, and multilateral institutions for more than 20 years.  Her contributions have been recognized and celebrated by the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the French American Foundation, among others. She was appointed to the rank of Knight in France’s National Order of Merit by President Macron for her global leadership on diplomacy, human rights, and sustainability.

Penny is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Soft Power Strategies, Fellow-in-Residence at NYU’s McSilver Institute, and a leadership strategies contributor at Forbes. Her current work centers on how leaders and teams can use soft power—what she calls “smart power” in her forthcoming book with Harmony (Penguin Random House)—to build trust, navigate complexity, and lead across five generations in the workplace. She writes on topics ranging from AI and climate to organizational culture and inclusion, and works with companies, public institutions, and international organizations to design strategies of influence and persuasion when there is little or no perceived power.

From 2014 to 2022 Penny was the Commissioner for International Affairs for the City of New York where she led the agency serving the largest diplomatic corps in the world. During her tenure New York City successfully implemented a series of award-winning programs with the international community including the creation of the Voluntary Local Review, a global movement of hundreds of local governments working to achieve the SDGs and the Junior Ambassador program which enabled underserved youth to address the SDGs in their local community. Prior to her role in government, Penny was the Director of the Women’s program at the Clinton Global Initiative (2009-2014), where she advised multinational corporations, philanthropists, NGOs and multilateral institutions to increase investments in gender-focused development initiatives.

Penny is currently on the Board of Directors of the United Nations Democracy Fund, FHI360, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the American Society of the French Order of Merit.  She is a TED Ignite Fellow and serves on advisory councils for APCO Worldwide, the 92Y Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact and Vote Run Lead. Penny’s recently served on the board of the United Nations Development Corporation (which oversees US-based real estate), the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships (which provides oversight of the UN Foundation), the International Peace Institute, the Aspen Institute’s Digital Equity Advisory Council, and was co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Cities of Tomorrow. She has her Master of International Affairs from Columbia University and undergraduate degree in business from the University of Southern California.  Penny lives in New York City with her family.