Elisabeth Mason

Elisabeth Mason is an American lawyer and venture philanthropist. She serves as the Founding Director of the Stanford Technology, Opportunity and Poverty Lab at Stanford University. She is also the co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Single Stop USA, a nonprofit that promotes economic mobility by connecting people to untapped US Government benefits. Mason has received numerous awards, including two White House Social Innovation Awards and the Robin Hood Foundation Heroes Award. NY1 named Mason "New Yorker of the Year" in 2015 for her work on anti-poverty initiatives directed at low-income New Yorkers. Prior to co-founding Single Stop USA, Mason was a Managing Director at the Robin Hood Foundation and practiced law at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York. Early life and education Mason was raised in East Harlem. She earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard College and a master's degree from the Harvard's Graduate School of Education. She holds a J.D. degree from Columbia University. When she was in College, Mason spent a semester in India, where she worked with Mother Teresa's nuns in a leper colony. After graduating, she joined the Peace Corps and was posted to Costa Rica.