Omar Woodard

Omar Woodard is executive director at HRS Management, the private investment platform of Josh Harris, co-founder of Apollo Global Management, founder of 26North, and managing general partner of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE).

Prior to joining HRS, Omar was Vice President of Solutions at Results for America (RFA), where he advised government leaders on using data and evidence in policymaking, and supported collaborative, community-led efforts across the U.S. to accelerate economic mobility. He also founded Woodard Impact, an global philanthropy advisory firm that prepares leaders – and the people that advise them – for the future of philanthropy, corporate responsibility, and social justice.

Omar spent nearly ten years as a social impact investor in roles as executive director of GreenLight Fund Philadelphia, and principal at Venture Philanthropy Partners. He spent his early career in global, federal, state, and local government affairs across a range of roles: registered federal lobbyist at the Whitaker Group, policy director for the PA State Senate Minority Whip, policy director for a Philadelphia mayoral campaign, and urban policy aide to a U.S. Congressman and appropriator.

A North Philadelphia native and resident, Omar serves on the boards of the Philanthropy Network of Greater Philadelphia, Compass Working Capital, the Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT), and chairs the Finance and Investments committee of the Independence Public Media Foundation. He is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and held fellowships with the Institute for Emerging Health Professions at Thomas Jefferson University, the Association of Black Foundation Executives, and the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.

Omar received a M.P.A. in Nonprofit Management, and a B.A. in International Affairs (Economics, Arabic) and a minor in public policy, both from George Washington University, where he was a Presidential Fellow. He completed executive education in nonprofit governance from Harvard Business School, where he received the Hansjoerg Wyss Award for Social Enterprise.