Jacob Petersen

Background

About Jacob Petersen

From individual and corporate philanthropy to planning various events including galas, worldwide speaking events, 5ks, receptions, movie industry parties, science/education events, Super Bowl events and more, Jacob brings over 10 years of experience from the global philanthropy and events world. Beginning in May 2022, Jacob joined Schmidt Futures, the venture philanthropy organization of Eric and Wendy Schmidt. Today, he is head of community for the organization and a key member of Eric Schmidt’s team. Previously, Jacob served as Associate Director of Events and Partnerships at Ocean Conservancy. During his three years, Jacob directed and oversaw the entire organization's fundraising, programmatic and brand event activations, both in-person and virtually. Early on he was tasked with building the organization’s brand and visibility through events, including their partnership on Super Bowl 2020 in Miami. Additionally, Jacob worked with individual major donors and corporate partners (including Breitling Watches, Disney, Gameloft, Garnier, Hermès of Paris and Tito’s Vodka) to raise millions of dollars for the organization during his tenure. Before that, Jacob served as Director of Special Events (Development) for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. He directed the foundation’s 5k + Health Fair along with their annual gala, working with event extraordinaire and celebrity designer, David Tutera. The gala raised over $1.7 million in 2018 thanks to Jacob’s leadership, and was recognized as the number three charity ball in BizBash’s Top 100 DC Events. What brought Jacob back to the east coast was his work at the Jane Goodall Institute. For four years he worked alongside legendary conservationist and primatologist, Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, who is best known as the National Geographic cover girl of the 1960s for her study of wild chimpanzees in Africa. Managing Dr. Goodall’s 300 day worldwide lecture tour and social media following of two million plus was no easy task, all while traveling with her across North America as her aid and lecture tour planner. Jacob got his start in events working for the California Science Center in Los Angeles where he planned events for the arrival of NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour and their annual Discovery Ball, to leading NASA’s California Spacefest and the California State Science Fair.