Lin Gao

Lin Gao joined The Rockefeller Foundation in 2019. As Research Specialist, her primary role is to undertake review and analysis of innovation at the nexus of the Foundation’s focus areas and to develop network opportunities to ensure the Foundation’s resources are being leveraged.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Lin worked at the United Nations Headquarters in New York as a researcher and interlocutor since 2015. She served as a high-level communications liaison between UN, permanent missions to the UN, NGOs as well as regional, parliamentary and local government municipalities on economic, social, and environmental development agendas. She was also involved in special projects with a key focus on the implementation and measurement of meeting the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

As a Chinese native, she worked at Mundipharma’s Beijing office as Government Affairs & Public Relations Manager from 2011 to 2014, working closely with the Chinese Ministry of Health (MOH), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), as well as the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA). Lin is also an experienced art law/art provenance researcher, specializing in the application of data and technological tools to prevent the illicit import, export, and transfer of ownership of cultural property.

Lin holds a U.S. bachelor’s degree in Communications and a MA in Art Business. She speaks Mandarin, Japanese and Arabic. She was the Gold Winner of the President’s Volunteer Service Award issued by the White House (2015) and the Grand Winner of Martin Luther King Award issued by the U.S. Embassy in Japan (2008). Lin recently joined the Board of Advisors at the George H.W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations.