Seattle, Washington
Sudha Nandagopal is a connector, organizer, facilitator, strategist, and community powerbuilder working at the intersection of environmental, racial, and social justice issues.
Sudha focuses on democratizing systems of power and shifting power outward to those who are most-affected by issues of inequity and injustice. Sudha co-created and led the City of Seattle’s Equity & Environment Initiative where she developed processes for collaborative governance to center the experiences of those most affected by environmental challenges. She facilitated a robust community-centered process with communities of color, immigrants, and refugees to create the first-in-the-nation Equity & Environment Agenda.
Sudha’s career in strategic communications, government, climate change work and electoral politics has built her expertise in applying racial equity frameworks to decision-making, especially as it relates to long term systems change, leadership, democracy-building, culture-shift, and changing the narrative. Sudha is a founding board member of OneAmerica Votes, a political organization that builds power for immigrant and refugee communities, elects people of color to office, and strengthens democracy and she has helped elect several progressive women of color to office. Grist.org recognized Sudha as one of “50 visionaries who will lead us to a more sustainable future.” Sudha recently began a new role as CEO of Social Venture Partners International, a global philanthropic network.
