Molly Turner has been elected to the Board of Directors of BRIDGE Housing, a leading nonprofit developer, owner and manager of affordable housing.
Turner, an expert on technology startups and cities, is a lecturer at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Through her teaching at Haas and her work in the field, she has shaped the contemporary conversation about technology’s impacts on urban life and governance. At Haas, Turner teaches the popular class “Tech and the City: How to Get Urban Innovation Right” to graduate MBAs. She is also the co-host and co-producer of the “Technopolis” podcast from Atlantic Media and CityLab.
She was an early employee of Airbnb, where she established the company’s public policy team in 2011 and directed its groundbreaking regulatory collaboration with cities. As the Global Head of Civic Partnerships, Turner directed Airbnb’s partnerships with governments around the world, including its international disaster response program, neighborhood tourism development program, and 2015 launch in Cuba. Before Airbnb, she worked for the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, the UNESCO World Heritage Cities Program, and an urban planning consulting firm.
Turner holds a Master in Urban Planning from Harvard University and a BA from Dartmouth College. She is deeply engaged in contemporary tech and urban policy issues through her advisory role with urban tech startups, and board membership of urban policy think tank SPUR.
“We are honored to welcome Molly to our board,” said Cynthia A. Parker, BRIDGE President and CEO. “She’s a dynamic thinker, and I look forward to seeing how her perspectives about the interplay between technology and cities will inform our work to strengthen communities and improve people’s lives.”
