Dr. Melanie Lundquist is an activist philanthropist and Giving Pledge signatory who is creating systemic, scalable change in K-12 public education, healthcare, biomedical research, and civic life. Lundquist and her husband, Richard, are among California’s most significant philanthropists, having appeared six times on The Philanthropy 50, the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of America’s 50 most generous philanthropists.

A leading advocate for “big bet” philanthropy, some of the Lundquists’ major philanthropic investments include $162 million to Torrance Memorial Medical Center, $85 million to the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, $80 million to The Lundquist Institute, $50 million to McPherson College, $15 million to the California Science Center, and $10 million to the News Literacy Project.

Lundquist speaks openly and authentically about how philanthropy can drive social change, on stages like the Aspen Ideas Festival, Bloomberg, Milken, and POLITICO, as well as commencement addresses and guest lectures at various universities across America.

Lundquist serves as Vice Chair of the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, one of the largest in-district, non-charter public school transformation organizations in the United States. She also serves on the boards of the News Literacy Project, a nonprofit organization that is the country’s largest provider of news literacy education, and at The Lundquist Institute, one of the nation’s top biomedical research organizations with over 550 research personnel advising on over 600 research projects annually.

She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Southern California and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from McPherson College.