Skip to content

Jess Tomlin & Jessica Houssian

Co-CEOs, Equality Fund

Jess Tomlin & Jessica Houssian, Co-CEOs, Equality Fund

 

Impassioned feminist leaders, Jess and Jessica have a combined wealth of experience in the International Development sector — particularly in the realm of development finance. Following the Government of Canada’s call for the Partnership for Gender Equality in 2018, Jess Tomlin and Jessica Houssian founded The Equality Fund, and were subsequently awarded $300 million by the federal government to invest in grassroots initiatives supporting women in the developing world. The fund is an innovative, Canadian-led consortium made up of 11 organizations that together make up the world’s largest women’s fund. In addition to the federal contribution, the fund has already gathered an additional $100 million from Canadian and international philanthropic foundations, with an aim to reach $1 billion in assets that work in support of gender equality over the next 15 years.