Todd A. Fisher ’91
Todd Fisher is Managing Director Scalable Solutions at Year Up, a not for profit focused on closing the opportunity divide by providing urban young adults the skills, experience and support necessary to procure professional careers. Following a 30-year career in the finance and investment industry as a private equity investor and C-level business leader, Todd decided to pursue a second career focused on social impact and economic mobility. He spent 2018 as a Fellow in Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI), a one-year program which transitions individuals with at least 25 years of leadership experience to new careers solving significant societal problems. At Year Up, he created and leads a disruptive innovation team designing a comprehensive solution to enable other organizations to deliver an end-to-end Year Up-like program in a cost-effective, rapidly scalable way.
Prior to ALI, Todd was a Partner and Global Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) in New York, a global investment firm specializing in private equity, real estate, energy, infrastructure and credit strategies. Fisher joined KKR as a private equity investor in San Francisco in 1993 and became a founding member of KKR’s European private equity business, building the firm’s European franchise and living in London between 1999 and 2010. As CAO from 2008 until the end of 2017, he built and was responsible for all business operations functions at this 1,250 person, $22 billion public company (finance, legal, IT, HR, public affairs, risk, budgeting and strategy). In addition, he founded, built and oversaw the firm’s real estate investment business from 2011-2017 (over $7 billion in AUM). He chaired KKR’s Management Committee and Risk Committee and sat on a number of the firm’s Real Estate and Private Equity Investment and Portfolio Committees. Prior to KKR, he worked for Goldman Sachs in NY and Drexel Burnham Lambert in Los Angeles.
Todd holds a BA in Biology from Brown University, an MA in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Advisors of SAIS, a member of the Boards of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc, New Visions for Public Schools, and John Jay College of Criminal Justice, as well as a member of various committees of Brown University and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. He has previously served on the Boards of 10 private and public corporations in both the US and Europe, as well as a variety of other not-for-profit, education and government entities, including as a Trustee of Brown University, a member of the Board of the US Holocaust Memorial Council, a member of the Board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Todd holds a BA in Biology from Brown University, an MA in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Advisors of SAIS, a member of the Boards of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc, New Visions for Public Schools, and John Jay College of Criminal Justice, as well as a member of various committees of Brown University and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. He has previously served on the Boards of 10 private and public corporations in both the US and Europe, as well as a variety of other not-for-profit, education and government entities, including as a Trustee of Brown University, a member of the Board of the US Holocaust Memorial Council, a member of the Board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
I greatly enjoyed my time at SAIS – the overall experience, the people I met and the classes I took were exceptional. SAIS was very influential on the way I think, how I have conducted my career and my passion for all things international. SAIS continues to have a differentiated platform to educate future global leaders and impact the dialogue on so many important international issues. I am excited to play a role in helping SAIS navigate this complex environment and reach its full potential.