James L. Bildner
Managing Partner, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
Senior Research Fellow-Adjunct Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School
James L. Bildner is a managing partner at the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, an adjunct
lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and a senior research fellow at the
Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University.
He is a frequent lecturer, panelist, and speaker on social enterprise, capitalization, and the
institutional role of philanthropy in solving complex societal issues. He is also a trustee of the
Nonprofit Finance Fund, Case Western Reserve University, the Public Citizen Foundation, the
Health Foundation for the Americas, and the Women’s Funding Network.
Bildner’s government service includes an appointment by the U.S. Secretary of Health and
Human Services to the Advisory Panel on Medicare Education for the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services. In 2008, he was awarded the Dartmouth Alumni Award for lifetime service
to the college and to his community.
He has written numerous articles and commentaries for newspapers, magazines, and radio,
including NPR’s “Morning Edition,” the Boston Globe, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Inc. Magazine. A lifelong sailor and pilot, he has published two
recent books, “A Visual Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast” (Ragged Mountain Press, 2006) and
“A Visual Cruising Guide to the Southern New England Coast” (Ragged Mountain, 2009).