
Martina Kolesarova
Leaders Europe 2023Role
Co-Executive Director, Pontis Foundation
Location
Slovakia
Biography
Martina Kolesarova is a co-executive director of the Pontis Foundation, Slovakia’s largest non-private foundation. She is leading programs in social innovation and impact philanthropy as well as the organization’s strategic focus and vision. Martina has strategically led the foundation’s first accelerator and impact philanthropy fund for social innovation in education, which has expanded to include nearly 70 alumni organizations. The fund will provide $2 million in awards to Slovak civil society over the next two years. Martina has actively collaborated with the Office of the Prime Minister and other ministries in order to shape public policies on social innovation and she is a member of the Impact Measurement working group within the European Venture Philanthropy Association. Martina is passionate about innovation as the main driver of societal change and cross-sectoral cooperation as the main tool to achieve it.