Felicia Madsen is the chief communications officer at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. She leads a global communications effort to advance the organization’s mission and vision, and to position the Foundation as a leader in the philanthropic sector as it strives to tackle the world’s greatest challenges. Felicia joined the Packard Foundation in 2011, bringing more than a dozen years of policy, strategic communications, and issue advocacy experience.

For nine years, Felicia worked for Save The Bay, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring and protecting San Francisco Bay. As its chief strategy officer, and previously political director, Felicia set the organization’s policy agenda, led government affairs outreach, and designed high-profile strategic communications and advocacy campaigns. She and her team worked with key stakeholders, policy makers, elected officials, and funders to improve the health of the Bay, restore the Bay’s tidal wetlands, and stop inappropriate development on the shoreline.

Before moving back to her native California, Felicia was the director of outreach for the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, organizing broad support among constituencies and organizations for federal budget priorities. She also served as the Washington, D.C. director of a Chicago-based public affairs firm. Felicia cut her teeth as a community organizer for Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area (now Planned Parenthood Illinois) where she advocated for state and federal policies to increase women’s access to reproductive health care.

Felicia holds a B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University.