Erin Harkless Moore

Director, Investments

Pivotal Ventures

Erin is the Investments Director at Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company created by Melinda French Gates to advance social progress in the United States. She is responsible for identifying, investing and managing a diverse portfolio of fund and direct investments that drive breakthrough innovations and advance women’s power and influence.

Prior to joining Pivotal Ventures, she was most recently a Managing Director at Cambridge Associates and has also held positions at the Princeton University Investment Company, Summit Rock Advisors and Goldman Sachs. With over a decade of experience in building and managing customized investment portfolios for endowed institutions and family offices across asset classes, Erin has extensive experience developing strategies for impact and mission-driven investments and writes and speaks frequently on the topics of investing with a social equity lens and investing in diverse/emerging managers.

With an MBA from the Harvard Business School as a Robert Toigo Foundation Fellow and graduated magna cum laude in BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis, she became a member and charterholder of the CFA Society of Washington, D.C., while serving on the board of the D.C. Public Library Foundation. Also, she is a member of the investment committee for Builders Initiative, a family foundation dedicated to social and environmental change in pursuit of a humane and healthy planet.

Less of a direct quote, but a phrase that I keep tacked on my wall is “Less Certainty, More Inquiry” – Maria Konnikova, in her book The Biggest Bluff, noted this was one of the lessons she took from a mentor as she was learning the game of poker and I find it apt to any pursuit – always ask questions and think things through for yourself before making any decisions.