British A. Robinson is president and CEO of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Robinson is a transformative, visionary leader and social entrepreneur with decades of experience spearheading initiatives in international and domestic health, education, corporate social responsibility, public-private partnerships, government relations, advocacy, and policy.
A true innovator, Robinson previously served as Founding CEO of the Women’s Heart Alliance, a unique collaboration between two of America’s leading medical institutions: the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Her extensive nonprofit leadership experience also includes service as senior vice president of innovation and strategic initiatives at Women for Women International and vice president of global strategy and programs at Susan G. Komen. Robinson also served at the U.S. Department of State as the deputy coordinator/director of private sector engagement for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Additionally, during her tenure at the State Department, she held a special assignment as director and special advisor to Secretary Clinton’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, where she established and managed alliances and partnerships committed to advancing the rights of women and girls around the world.
In 2018, Robinson was selected through a national search to serve as the Barbara Bush Foundation’s first President and CEO after the passing of its founder, former first lady Barbara Bush. In this role, Robinson champions literacy’s inextricable connection to dignity, equity, and economic mobility, and spearheads the Foundation’s work to break multigenerational cycles of poverty, poor health, and gender and racial inequity through expanded access to educational opportunities.
Robinson holds a master’s degree in government from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in public policy and business administration from George Washington University, and has received an honorary doctorate from Fairfield University. She serves as a Senior Advisor for Concordia; as a member of the XPRIZE Racial Equity Alliance Brain Trust; on the boards of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, and Leadership Roundtable; on the advisory council of the Inter-American Foundation; and on the advisory boards of Arlington Partners International and Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens. In 2022, Robinson was named one of Forbes’ 50 Over 50 for Impact – a list of social entrepreneurs and changemakers who are helping to make the world a better, more equitable place.
