World Learning and SIT welcome Sarah Ingersoll, granddaughter of founder, to its Board of Trustees
Publication Date: July 19, 2021
Publication Location: WASHINGTON
Contact: Kathryn Schoenberger | [email protected]
World Learning and School for International Training are pleased to announce the appointment of Sarah Ingersoll to its Board of Trustees. Ingersoll is the granddaughter of the organization’s founder, Donald Watt, and the daughter of Phyllis Watt Ingersoll, who was an active leader and trustee for decades.
“It is a privilege to welcome Sarah to our Board,” said World Learning CEO Carol Jenkins. “Her involvement will continue her family’s legacy with the organization, advancing peace through understanding, communication, and cooperation. Sarah’s deep relationship with the organization as well as her expertise in social impact strategy will be an asset as we work towards a more sustainable, equitable, and just world for all living and future generations.”
Ingersoll is a social entrepreneur who leverages media, technology, money, and partnerships for good. She has been a leader of collaboratives with the White House, Fortune 500 companies, investors, foundations, artists, youth, and nonprofits, addressing issues from healthcare and juvenile justice to democracy and conservation. Her current projects include the Amazon Investor Coalition, a network of investors and philanthropies working to increase and improve sustainable investments in the Amazon rainforest, and ValuesAdvisor, a platform to connect high net worth investors to financial advisors with impact expertise. While at National Geographic, she managed initiatives for the new innovation lab and global partnerships team, including directing a partnership with Microsoft AI for Earth. Prior to that, Ingersoll was director of innovation strategy and marketing at MedStar Health. She also directed Text4baby, a partnership between Johnson & Johnson, the Wireless Association, and White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, which inspired 650,000 mothers to use the maternal health innovation. Ingersoll holds a BA from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and a MEd from Harvard University. Ingersoll also participated in The Experiment in International Living in France as a teenager.
The Experiment, which Donald Watt founded in 1932, was a model for the Peace Corps and is now the flagship program of World Learning, a thriving global organization, which includes the higher education institution School for International Training, global development initiatives, and life-changing exchange programs with participants from over 150 countries annually. The Experiment is the nation’s most experienced provider of immersive summer programs abroad for high school students and a leader in international virtual exchange. With a strong focus on diversity, The Experiment works with an extensive partner network to recruit participants from a wide range of socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, and geographic backgrounds; provide scholarships; and support students before, during, and after their programs.
“My grandfather’s vision, with his wife Leslie’s support, was to cultivate intercultural understanding and respect. My mother Phyllis embodied this vision in everything she did,” said Ingersoll. “I am delighted that the new Phyllis Watt Ingersoll Experiment Fund at World Learning is honoring her life-time commitment, and I’m excited to continue our family’s commitment to World Learning’s lasting principles and its impact.”
World Learning Inc. is a thriving global organization made up of The Experiment in International Living, the nation’s most experienced provider of immersive summer programs abroad for high school students and a leader in international virtual exchange; School for International Training, offering accredited undergraduate study abroad programs through SIT Study Abroad, including the comparative International Honors Program, and internationally focused master’s degrees, certificate programs, and a doctorate through SIT Graduate Institute; and World Learning, a global development and exchange nonprofit organization.