Risa Ward

As Senior Vice President of Operations at Crisis Text Line, Risa leads the strategic and operational initiatives that drive the organization’s impact. She oversees volunteer experience, as well as service platform optimization and delivery to ensure that every texter receives timely and effective support. Risa is passionate about leveraging technology and data-driven insights to continuously improve the experience for both volunteers and texters.

Before joining Crisis Text Line, Risa led operations, partnerships, and strategy teams at DonorsChoose, the leading platform for supporting U.S. Public Schools. There, she managed successful CEO search and transition and led a growth strategy development process. She also managed a corporate and foundation partnership portfolio totalling $50M, and scaled operations and customer support processes to provide high-quality support to hundreds of thousands of users. In 2015, she was recognized on Mic Fifty list of the next generation of impactful leaders for her leadership in customer experience.

Risa has a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Harvard University, where she earned high honors for her thesis about Americorps’ national service programs. She has extensive volunteer experience, including serving for five years as a Mentor with America Needs You, and is currently a board member of the Manhattan Choral Ensemble.