Chief Executive Officer
Lois believes deeply in Pathfinder’s mission. She has seen up close how Pathfinder helps millions of people around the world pursue their goals because they can decide whether and when to have children. She knows personally what this means.
“As a woman, I know that my own life and all my opportunities have been shaped by my access to contraception. As a mother, I know firsthand what it means to have help close by when I had a difficult labor and delivery of my twin sons. Every woman, no matter where she lives, should have access to quality care.”
Under Lois’s leadership, Pathfinder is on the move. We are charting a new path while staying true to our mission.
“We are taking on the new challenges the world faces, whether it is meeting the needs of growing numbers of refugees or removing barriers to make contraception available to millions of adolescents for the first time. This is Pathfinder. We are committed partners to the courageous people we serve. Our work transforms communities.”
Named three times to FORTUNE’s list of the most influential women leaders in business, Lois Quam joined Pathfinder in 2017 as our CEO. She brings a lifelong passion for women’s empowerment and lessons learned as a senior leader in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Throughout her career, she has applied her strategic and operating experience to drive business revenue and earnings growth and tackle public policy issues.
Before joining Pathfinder, Lois served as chief operating officer of The Nature Conservancy and as a senior advisor to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. She was selected by President Obama to head his signature Global Health Initiative at the Department of State, which provided more than $8 billion dollars annually to help solve major health challenges facing millions of individuals across 80 countries. Reporting directly to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, she advanced a comprehensive strategy to increase US global health diplomacy, created a $200 million public private partnership, and introduced integrated systems approaches for global health problems.
Prior to her work in the public sector, Lois was the founding CEO of Ovations, a division of the FORTUNE 50 global corporation UnitedHealth Group.
A Rhodes Scholar, Lois has degrees from Oxford University and Macalester College. She speaks English and Norwegian.