Amy Hepburn

Executive Director, WomenOne and Director, J. Kirk Felsman Program on Children in Adversity

Bio Current as of March 2, 2016

Amy Hepburn is an expert on children in adversity and has spent two decades driving social change in the non-profit, academic and public sectors. She has researched, published, and programmed extensively on the protection and care of vulnerable children and families.

Her portfolio includes partnerships with community and international NGOs, the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees in Geneva, the United States Department of State, and the United States Agency for International Development, Office of HIV/AIDS. Her programming expertise includes the education, health and protection of vulnerable children and families domestically and abroad, and she has worked extensively on issues affecting children in complex humanitarian emergencies, including those orphaned by HIV/AIDS and/or refugees affected by armed conflict.

Ms. Hepburn is the Executive Director of WomenOne, a non-profit focused on increasing girls access to a quality education globally. During her tenure, the nonprofit has tripled its budget and innovative programming to include: school builds in Haiti and Senegal; capacity building trainings in East and West Africa, a holistic educational center for street children and young mothers in Kenya; and the first-ever social impact fund for girls education in The Gambia to inspire community-driven solutions for increasing educational access.

Ms. Hepburn is Adjunct Faculty at Duke University and George Washington University where she teaches on children in adversity at the graduate level. She co-founded the Duke University Global Governance and Policy Program on Human Rights and Humanitarian Action in Geneva, Switzerland and created the Duke Program on Children in Adversity, the first academic program of its kind to merge policy and documentary disciplines. She sits on numerous Boards including the World Childhood Foundation and Duke Alumni Board of Directors. She is a Senior Research Fellow in the Duke University, Global Health Inequalities Program.

She currently resides in the Washington, D.C. area with her family. She received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees with highest honors from Duke University.