Episode #20 in which Renee Wittemyer shows us that listening to women is key to creating transformational community change.

In this conversation, Hildy Gottlieb and Renee Wittemyer explore the intersection of social justice, philanthropy, and women's empowerment. Renee shares her journey from working in East Africa to her current role at Pivotal, where she focuses on expanding women's power and influence. They discuss the importance of listening to lived experiences, the role of technology in addressing poverty, and the significance of caregiving in economic empowerment. The conversation emphasizes the need for partnerships and innovative solutions in the workplace to support women and drive systemic change.

Dr. Renee Wittemyer is the Vice President, Program Strategy at Pivotal. In her role, Renee leads Pivotal’ s Program Strategy team and is accountable for Pivotal’ s philanthropic work focused on accelerating women’s power and influence and supporting the wellbeing of people. This includes overseeing strategy teams focused on Adolescent Mental Health, Women’s Political Power, Women in Tech Innovation, Centering Women and Girls of Color and Caregiving and functions such as Advocacy and Public Affairs and Strategic Partnerships. She previously worked at Intel in numerous positions, including as the Director of Strategy and Research and the Director of Social Innovation. Renee also worked as a social scientist in Microsoft Research Labs in India and has done extensive fieldwork in East Africa. For her work on gender and technology, Renee was awarded the “GemTech Global Achiever Award” by UN Women. She holds a PhD focused on development studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in public Affairs from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs.