Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen


Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen is an American philanthropist, educator and author.
She is the founder and president of the Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Foundation, a private operating foundation that describes itself as a philanthropic "innovation lab", and founded the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund, a venture philanthropy fund. She is also the author of Giving 2.0: Transform Your Giving and Our World.

Personal life

Arrillaga-Andreessen was born in Palo Alto, California, the daughter of Frances C. Arrillaga and real estate developer John Arrillaga, Sr. She received a BA and MA in Art History from Stanford University, an MA in Education from Stanford School of Education, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Arrillaga-Andreessen has said her mother's volunteer work was a strong influence on her when she was growing up in Palo Alto. She became active in philanthropy after her mother's early death from cancer. Arrillaga-Andreessen married Marc Andreessen in 2006. The couple have one son. Arrillaga-Andreessen and her husband co-founded the Marc and Laura Andreessen Foundation. Arrillaga-Andreessen is the Foundation's president.

Career

While attending the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Arrillaga-Andreessen developed a business plan for an organization to teach philanthropy and make grants based on venture capital firm investment strategies. The organization became the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund, which Arrillaga-Andreessen founded in 1998 and served as its chairman until 2008; she is currently its chairman emeritus.
In 2006, she founded and serves as board chairman of Stanford PACS, a social change research center. She has been an Instructor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business since 2000 and teaches courses on philanthropy and on leadership.
In 2011, Arrillaga-Andreessen's book Giving 2.0: Transform Your Giving and Our World was published by Jossey-Bass, and she writes about philanthropy for The Huffington Post and other publications.

Honors

In 2001, Arrillaga-Andreessen received the Jacqueline Kennedy Award for Women in Leadership and in April 2005 became a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. She was awarded the President's Volunteer Service Award from the Points of Light Foundation in June 2005 and Children and Family Services' Outstanding Silicon Valley Philanthropist Award in 2009. In 2011, she and Marc Andreessen received Global Citizen Awards from the Global Philanthropy Forum of the World Affairs Councils of America.