Emily Fan is general counsel and secretary of The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Since joining in 2016 and assuming her current role in 2022, she has led legal strategy across global grantmaking, governance, and risk management. She has helped shape the Foundation’s strategic framework, improved grantmaking practices, and navigated an evolving legal landscape in the U.S. and internationally.
With over 20 years of legal experience in the nonprofit and international development sectors, Emily previously served as the inaugural counsel at Room to Read, advising global leadership and overseeing legal matters for affiliated entities across four continents. Before that, she was Assistant General Counsel at Habitat for Humanity International, supporting operations in over 30 Asia-Pacific countries. While in Thailand, she also served as country representative for the Clinton Health Access Initiative, expanding access to HIV/AIDS treatment.
Emily began her legal career working on anti-trafficking initiatives in northern Thailand and later practiced law in Asia focusing on project finance and mergers and acquisitions.
She serves on the board of Pie Ranch, a Bay Area nonprofit advancing just food systems, and on the steering committee of Invest for Better, which educates women on impact investing. Emily holds a juris doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law and graduated cum laude from Bryn Mawr College in sociology with a focus on Asian American studies.