Giovanna Gray Lockhart

Giovanna Gray Lockhart has twenty years of experience achieving high-impact results at the intersection of nonprofits, business, politics, media, and gender equity. In 2023, she was tapped to be the Executive Director of the Frances Perkins Center, the national organisation devoted to furthering the legacy of the United States' first female cabinet secretary and architect of the New Deal, based in Newcastle, Maine. During a sabbatical from her term on the Board of Directors of StoryCorps, Lockhart advised the founder and senior leadership on a range of issues regarding management, long-term strategy, personnel, fundraising, marketing and communications, partnerships, and new initiatives. She also served as a Senior Advisor to PL+US, leading the political strategy for the passage of a federal paid family leave policy. Previously, Lockhart held senior roles at venture backed companies, as the Senior Director of Impact at The Wing and as Chief Strategy Officer at The Riveter. She has contributed to many national publications.

Lockhart began her career in politics raising money for US presidential candidate Howard Dean. She pioneered programmes delivering small donor, Internet-based fundraising that made Dean for America’s success possible, as well as many other Democratic campaigns to come. While building a career in branding and marketing in New York, Lockhart volunteered for several Democratic candidates. Most notably, she founded Generation Obama – a political fundraising and advocacy group dedicated to organising young people in the 2008 Obama campaign. With this experience, Lockhart became the Senior Advisor to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and worked both on her Congressional staff and on the Senator's reelection campaigns. She led the efforts for former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords’ gun violence prevention organisation by connecting the issues of domestic violence and gun violence; the seeds planted in today’s legislation protecting women from abusers with guns. Building on her experience in Washington and returning to business, Lockhart served as the Washington Editor of Glamour Magazine during the 2016 election cycle. She is a trusted advisor to women running for office across the US as well as high net worth individuals looking to invest in changing the political landscape.

In 2017, Lockhart founded the New York Women's Collective, a political giving group that has contributed millions to Democratic women candidates. She serves on the Board of Directors of the beloved national nonprofit StoryCorps. Lockhart is an angel investor in women-founded companies, most notably the sustainable luxury fashion company Another Tomorrow. Lockhart is a graduate of Connecticut College where she was a Gender and Women's Studies major and the goalie for the Division 3 Ice Hockey Team. Giovanna enjoys living on the coast of Maine with her two young children and in her free time, loves to host all ages dinner parties and grow vegetables in her garden. An active member of the Portland community, she is a trustee at the Waynflete School and volunteers with the Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute.