Jenny Bowen

A former screenwriter and independent filmmaker, Jenny Bowen founded Half the Sky Foundation in 1998 in order to give something back to her adopted daughter's home country and to the many children then languishing behind institutional walls. She serves on China's National Committee for Orphans and Disabled Children and on the Expert Consultative Committee for Beijing Normal University's Philanthropy Research Institute. She was awarded the American Chamber of Commerce's Women of Influence Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Hong Kong. In 2008, she received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, carried the Olympic Torch on Chinese soil, and in the same year Half the Sky became one of only a handful of foreign NGOs officially recognized and legally registered by the Chinese government. Jenny lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her family.