Alison Upton Lopez

Alison Upton Lopez, '02, MA '09, is a senior director at Ktisis Capital, a philanthropic consulting firm. At Ktisis, she serves as donor advisor, working with individuals and families on a wide range of issues including environmental & racial justice. Prior to Ktisis, she was the founding executive director for the Julian Grace Foundation, an entrepreneurial family foundation in Chicagoland. Before working in philanthropy, Alison spent the majority of her career in various leadership roles in nonprofits in Illinois and California. She started her career as a Tom Ford Fellow at the Chicago Community Trust and has since been a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador, the executive director of Building Futures Now and I Have a Dream - East Palo Alto, and the development and communications director at NewRoot, among other roles. Alison holds an M.A in policy, organization and leadership studies from the Stanford Graduate School of Education, as well as a B.A. in psychology from Stanford. As an undergraduate, she was awarded the Sandhill Fellowship and the Ford Fellowship in Philanthropy through the Haas Center. Alison currently lives in Chicagoland and also serves on the boards for the Chicago Center for Arts and Technology and Forefront.