Kelly Born is the inaugural Director of the Democracy, Rights, and Governance initiative at the Packard Foundation. In this role, she leads the organization’s emerging grantmaking in support of a thriving, pro-equity democracy in the United States.

Prior to joining the foundation, Kelly served as the Director of the Cyber Initiative at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, overseeing a $150M grantmaking portfolio to bolster tech policy, in order to improve the impact of technologies on democracy, and society.

Previously, Kelly was the founding director of Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center, where she focused on the global impacts of technology on democracy. Before Stanford, in an earlier period of time with the Hewlett Foundation, she helped launch and lead the foundation’s U.S. Democracy Program, leveraging grantmaking to build public trust in U.S. democracy, combat disinformation, and strengthen American electoral and governing institutions.

Earlier in her career, Kelly worked as a strategy consultant with the Monitor Group where she supported strategic planning efforts with nonprofits, private sector companies, philanthropies, and governments in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America.

Kelly holds a bachelor’s degree in business with a minor in economics from Pepperdine University and a master’s degree in international policy studies from Stanford University.