Stephen Robert | The Founder of Source of Hope Foundation

Stephen Robert and 68th US Secretary of State John Kerry

The founder of Source of Hope Foundation, Stephen Robert is the former CEO and Chairman of Oppenheimer and Company. Stephen Robert and his wife, Pilar Crespi Robert, established Source of Hope Foundation as a means of applying holistic approaches to the problems facing the global community. Focusing on sustainable aid programs that provide food, water, education, and healthcare to the developing world, Source of Hope Foundation provides humanitarian aid and emergency relief on four continents.

Source of Hope foundation is active in North and South America, Africa, and the Middle East. Working with NGOs and private foundations, Stephen Robert has funded training and education for underemployed youth throughout the world. Recognizing the crisis stemming from the economic hardships and lack of socioeconomic mobility in much of the Middle East, Stephen Robert has worked with organizations such as Mercy Corps to help bring knowledge-based economies to the third world.

As Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Source of Hope Foundation, Stephen Robert believes that increasing the economic growth of a region helps create a civil society and provides conditions that are more favorable for a lasting peace. Working with Google.org, Source of Hope Foundation is helping to establish Web-based businesses in areas where mobility is restricted. Identifying Gaza and the West Bank as untapped locations for the growth of information technology businesses, the foundation has helped fuel the growth of tech sector jobs in a region where the overall economy has declined.

Stephen Robert is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Foreign Policy Program Leadership Committee at the Brookings Institution. He has served as Chancellor and Trustee of Brown University, where he earned his undergraduate degree. Additionally, Robert serves as a director of the New York Philharmonic and on the Board of the Santa Maddalena Foundation.