Elinor Haider, Board Member
Elinor Haider is the senior director for Pew’s Philadelphia Program with oversight of the Philadelphia Research and Policy Initiative, Religion, and The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. In this role, she leads Pew’s efforts to help Philadelphia’s policymakers and civic partners address barriers to economic opportunity and support the city’s vibrant civic and cultural life. Haider works to combine Pew’s evidence-based research with convenings that offer the opportunity to share expertise and learn from national experts about solutions that have been effective at improving government performance and accountability in peer jurisdictions.
Ms. Haider has 20 years of energy, finance and government experience. Prior to this role, Ms. Haider served as the Vice President of Market Development for Veolia, a global environmental company, leading policy development and oversight for Veolia’s regulatory and sustainability departments in North America for its $2.5 billion water, waste and energy businesses. Prior to Veolia, Ms. Haider served as CEO at NovaThermal Energy, an early-stage cleantech company.
Ms. Haider has served as Deputy Commerce Director for Mayor Michael A. Nutter and Chief of Staff for Philadelphia’s Deputy Mayor for Economic Development. Prior to that role, she led the recapitalization of the loan portfolio for the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation. Through grant, debt, tax credit and securitization programs, Ms. Haider raised new resources, to leverage over $2 billion in private real estate transactions, including a first-time award of New Markets Tax Credits.
Ms. Haider holds an MBA in Real Estate Finance from the Wharton School, MA in international economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and BA from Georgetown University. Ms. Haider serves in numerous civic leadership roles, most recently on the Board of Directors for the Philadelphia Outward Bound School, Alumni Board for Wharton’s Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership, and the corporate board for Reed Manufacturing. She has served in national leadership roles at the US Conference of Mayors; US Chamber of Commerce Foundation; Advanced Energy Economy; Alliance for Industrial Efficiency; and Rockefeller’s 100 Resilient Cities. She has also served in regional leadership roles representing Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore energy facilities in the Northeast Clean Energy Council, and the Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance.