Sara Allan

Sara Allan is president of Valhalla Foundation, where she leads Valhalla’s people and strategy to drive meaningful and measurable improvement in outcomes in Valhalla’s six issue areas: early childhood development, K-12 education, data science, environmental innovation, medical research & talent, and collaborative philanthropy. Before Valhalla, Sara served as a Director in the U.S. Education Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She joined the foundation in 2011 as a Deputy Director of the K-12 program, and during her tenure led the foundation’s work to expand research and development of promising solutions to longstanding teaching and learning challenges that prevent students from reaching their full potential. Most recently, she led the foundation’s program strategies in early learning and education pathways.Previously, Sara served as Executive Director of System Planning and Performance at Portland Public Schools.  Prior to her work in education, Sara was a strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and began her career at the Royal Bank of Canada. She serves as a board member and advisor to mission-focused organizations and was a recipient of the Broad Residency in Urban Education and is a Presidential Leadership Scholar.  A dual citizen, Sara attended Canadian public schools from kindergarten through graduate school. She lives in Seattle and is the proud mother of two recent college graduates and a high school senior.