Deborah M. Winshel

Deborah Winshel is a Senior Lecturer in the General Management Unit of Harvard Business School.  She teaches several MBA required courses: Leadership and Organizational Behavior (LEAD), Leadership and Corporate Accountability and the Field Immersion course (2025 in South Korea).  She teaches the MBA elective course, Power and Influence and has served as a faculty chair for first year MBA sections.  In addition, she teaches a range of topics including crisis leadership, culture and strategy in the Executive Education program.

Throughout her career, Deborah has transitioned between leadership roles in both the corporate and non-profit world.  Most recently, Deborah was a Managing Director and Global Head of Social Impact at BlackRock leading a team that created and funded multiple initiatives with employers, fintechs, startups and policymakers to improve economic mobility.  She spearheaded the $100MM cornerstone investment in Breakthrough Energy, a Gates initiative to accelerate innovation in sustainable energy.  During her time at BlackRock, Deborah also launched the firm’s sustainable investing platform building investment products and a strategy that established BlackRock as a leader in the field.

Deborah started her career as a management consultant before attending Harvard Business School and then joined JP Morgan.  During her 13-year career in JP Morgan’s NY and London offices, she worked in corporate finance and then M&A, specializing in the consumer, hospitality, food and retail sectors. As a Managing Director in investment banking, she advised clients on financial and strategic issues and spearheaded the global auto practice.

Deborah then pivoted to the non-profit world, initially as Executive Vice President and CFO at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, responsible for finance and operations and a staff of 900, then as Chief Operating Officer and President at The Robin Hood Foundation, a leader in the field of venture philanthropy and a pioneer in impact investing.

She received the 2021 Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award and was honored with the HBS Women's Association of Greater New York's "Women Who Inspire Us" award and the HBS Club of New York’s John C. Whitehead Social Enterprise Award.  She has also been named one of the "50 Most Powerful Women in New York” by Crains.

She is a member of the Board and Audit committee of Indigo, an ag/climate tech company, and the Board of Primaloft, a leader in advanced material technology.  She serves on the Board and as Governance Chair of The Shed, a new arts center in NYC, and was a founding member of the Financial Stability Board’s Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD).  She lives in NYC where she enjoys time with her husband and three adult sons.