leadership

LOWELL WEISS
President, Cascade Philanthropy Advisors, Inc. 

Lowell Weiss has spent nearly three decades working to spark social change across a broad array of local, national, and global issues. At Cascade Philanthropy Advisors, he provides personalized guidance to donors seeking to deepen their impact and achieve greater purpose, meaning, and joy. He is a proud member of the Leap Ambassadors Community, a group of top nonprofit and philanthropic leaders committed to making high performance the norm in the social sector. 

Previously, he served in a leadership role at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Among his many responsibilities, he served as staff director of the internal team responsible for providing Bill and Melinda Gates with insights on how to make highest and best use of Warren Buffett’s historic gift. Prior to the Gates Foundation, he served as director of the chairman’s office at the Morino Institute, dedicated to improving the lives of at-risk children in the National Capital Region. 

As Special Assistant to the President in the Clinton White House, Lowell traveled extensively with the President, wrote more than 150 speeches for him, and served as a key communications strategist. He previously wrote speeches for Vice President Al Gore; wrote a New York Times bestselling book with political consultant James Carville; served as an editor at The Atlantic Monthly; and published articles in The New Republic, U.S. News & World Report, Elle, and other national publications. He graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College. 

Lowell is an active volunteer. In addition to providing pro bono consulting to two nonprofits in his home city of Seattle, he started a program that engaged more than 1,000 federal employees in tutoring public school students in DC; served on the advisory boards of City Year Seattle and Juma Ventures Seattle; led a successful citizen initiative to strengthen Washington State’s law on distracted driving; was a partner of Social Ventures Seattle; and frequently participates in community service projects with Jewish Family Service Seattle, United Way of King County, and the Queen Anne Helpline.

Lowell and his wife, Kristin Thompson, are raising their three children in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood—with frequent outings to the mountains and sea nearby.