About us

Goodman Philanthropies supports innovative, evidence-based solutions that expand economic mobility across the United States. We prioritize approaches that combine rigor, innovation, and scale to move the needle on poverty and opportunity.

Bennett Goodman himself is living proof of the American promise of economic mobility, coming from very humble beginnings. Today, he is a prominent American financier and co-founder of GSO Capital Partners, the credit investment arm of Blackstone. With a career spanning several decades in alternative asset management, Goodman has played a significant role in shaping the private credit and leveraged finance industries. Bennett & Meg Goodman, alongside their children Jared, Alex, and Julia, now see it as their duty to help ensure economic mobility is a reality for Americans still today through helping identify barriers to economic mobility, and develop and scale solutions through philanthropy.

Please see our Grants Portfolio for more detail on Goodman Philanthropies’ US economic mobility grant recipients. Beyond economic mobility, Meg & Bennett Goodman are also long-time supporters of the Whitney Museum of the American Art, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York Presbyterian Hospital & Health System, and various Jewish American causes.

A couple dressed elegantly at a formal event with other attendees in the background.

Our Leadership

Pamela Harder, Executive Director

Pam Harder is the Executive Director of Goodman Philanthropies, where she leads the organization’s mission to expand economic mobility for individuals and families across the United States. She has built her career at the intersection of education, workforce development, and financial inclusion, with a focus on designing systems that translate talent into long-term economic security.

Prior to joining Goodman Philanthropies, Pam led go-to-market sales strategy at Guild Education, a leading upskilling and career mobility platform for working adults. She previously spent four years in her home state government, where she designed, executed, and scaled initiatives to better align Virginia’s higher education and workforce systems — including architecting the largest-ever investment in tech talent, $1.1B Tech Talent Investment Program. Earlier in her career, Pam worked at FSG, a global nonprofit consulting firm, where she advised a wide range of education- and workforce-focused organizations, including the Gates Foundation, family foundations, and regional cross-sector partnerships focused on career-connected education and training. She also has worked internationally (Mumbai, India) for an early-stage fintech company focused on alternative credit models.

Pam’s writing and research have been published in The Atlantic, National Journal, Stanford Alumni Magazine, and the Journal of Education and Work. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University, a Master of Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Smiling person with shoulder-length hair against a turquoise background, wearing a beige blazer and purple top.

Our Expert Advisors

  • Rachel Lipson

    EXPERT ADVISOR
    Rachel Lipson is a Research Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and co-founder of the Harvard Project on Workforce, where she serves as Scholar in Residence. From 2023 to 2025, she was Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s CHIPS Program Office, helping to launch the workforce strategy for the $50 billion investment to revitalize domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Rachel's research on workforce development and economic competitiveness has been featured by C-SPAN, NPR, Bloomberg, The Economist, and MIT Technology Review, and her writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Newsweek, and The Hill. She is co-editor of America's Hidden Economic Engines, a Harvard Education Press volume on how community colleges can drive shared prosperity. Rachel graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and holds an MBA and MPP from Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School.

  • Sean Brazier

    EXPERT ADVISOR
    Sean Brazier is passionate about economic mobility and expanding opportunity, especially for historically underserved communities. He is a social impact consultant with Bell Creek Consulting, where he advises leading foundations on education and economic mobility strategy. Previously, he helped scale McKinsey Social Initiative’s Generation U.S. workforce development program nationally, and served as a founding leader of Purpose Built Schools Atlanta, a PreK-12 public charter school anchoring a neighborhood transformation effort. He also led the Economic Competitiveness division at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, helping the state and its localities strengthen economic resilience. A Navy brat, Sean was born in Atlanta and lived throughout the South (GA, SC, VA, LA, and AL) growing up. He holds a BA from Morehouse College, an MSc from the London School of Economics, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a PhD in Public Policy from Virginia Commonwealth University.

  • Heidi Johnson

    EXPERT ADVISOR
    Heidi Johnson is a leading expert in inclusive wealth-building initiatives across the United States. As the Senior Director of Behavioral Economics at Financial Health Network, she leads the application of behavioral insights to design and deliver effective financial health solutions, with a focus on low to moderate income Americans. Previously, Heidi spent 7 years serving in the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) where she led a behavioral research program and collaborated with social scientists and regulatory attorneys to study innovative financial products and design policy.  Her research and product insights spanned deposits, credit reporting, debt collections, and small-dollar credit markets. Heidi holds an MPP from Harvard Kennedy School and a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University.