Elizabeth Lowe

Biography

Growing up in Palo Alto, California, Liz Lowe recognized her own privilege and the growing income inequality in the Bay Area at an early age. This contrast in access to resources and opportunities led Lowe to focus her career on social impact, access and equity.

Lowe is the head of Community Engagement for Adobe, managing a team of CSR professionals working to develop and implement global social impact programs across education, creativity, community engagement and diversity, equity & inclusion initiatives. Previously, she was Innovation Lead for the team, and using human-centered design, she built and scaled the Adobe Digital Academy.

Named to Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas list, the Adobe Digital Academy is a two-part diversity and inclusion initiative aimed at shortening the pipeline of tech and design talent through a training phase at an education partner and a three-month Adobe apprenticeship. Candidates are sourced from nonprofits and the local community and go from earning under $30k per year to over $100k per year. The majority of graduates have landed full-time jobs at Adobe or other companies such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Workday and Google. Hiring managers from the program report more innovative problem solving and improved team morale. The Digital Academy launched in San Francisco in March of 2016 and continues to expand to new offices and roles including web development, data science and design. Focused on supporting high-potential individuals, the program offers a number of support mechanisms including a focus on growth mindset, mentorship, community support, and on-going career development to ensure long-term success.

Previously, Liz was a strategist at GOOD/Corps, a social innovation consulting firm, helping corporations and foundations align their business strategy with their social impact. She has her MBA from UC Berkeley and enjoys hiking, public speaking, and teaching yoga.