Karina Chamorro is the interim director for the Global Climate Initiative at The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. She leads the Foundation’s grantmaking support tropical forest communities in safeguarding and preserving forests as a vital climate solution. Her portfolio focuses on strengthening the capacities and opportunities of tropical forest communities to halt deforestation and safeguard forests as vital climate solutions.
Karina brings over a decade of experience working at the intersection of environmental stewardship and social impact, bridging local perspectives with global solutions. She previously co-led the Foundation’s sustainable agriculture grantmaking strategy, supporting efforts for smallholder farmers in tropical forest regions to achieve both economic resilience and environmental sustainability. Throughout her career, she has partnered with leaders and organizations across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and North America to strengthen climate and development outcomes.
Before joining the Foundation, Karina worked at Root Capital, a social enterprise delivering financial services to rural agribusinesses and cooperatives around the globe. Earlier in her career, she spent a decade in academic programming at Harvard Law School and the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Karina obtained a Master of Business Administration from Santa Clara University and a Bachelor of Arts from Boston College. She considers California, Peru, and Boston her home bases.