In 2017 CSWGS was pleased to honor Noorain Khan '06 with our Distinguished Alumna Award. Noorain graduated from Rice with three majors: Political Science, Religious Studies, and the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. For the latter she wrote an honors thesis titled "Public Image, Private Identities: Veiling American Muslim Women." After graduation, Noorain held a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. She earned an MPhil in Migration Studies at Oxford, then attended Yale Law School and earned a J.D. in 2011.
She began her career as an attorney at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York and was previously a Senior Policy Advisor on the National Economic Council at the White House and Chief of Staff at education nonprofit Teach for All. She has served on the boards of the Association of American Rhodes Scholars, Pillars Fund, and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. She is the recipient of the George Parkin Service Award for outstanding contributions to the Rhodes Trust. She appeared on Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and received the Legal Aid Society's Pro Bono Publico Award for her commitment to volunteer legal services for the poor and disadvantaged. In 2015 she joined the Ford Foundation.
Noorain spent nearly a decade at the Ford Foundation, where she built and led the first-ever discretionary program team under visionary President Darren Walker. She shaped the foundation’s most ambitious and flexible funding efforts, which included launching Ford’s work in disability rights and growing it into the largest private funder of disability rights in the world. Noorain co-founded and incubated pioneering sector-wide efforts such as the Disability & Philanthropy Forum and the Disability Inclusion Fund at Borealis Philanthropy.
During her time at Ford, Noorain helped spearhead Ford’s historic $1 billion social bond effort during COVID-19. She is the subject of a Harvard Law School case study on public sector leadership.
Noorain was elected the National President of Girl Scouts of the USA in 2023. In this role, she presides over 1.8 million members and the National Board of Directors during a time of organizational transformation.
In addition to her role leading the Girls Scouts, Noorain is the founder of NFK Philanthropic Strategy and a Senior Advisor at the investment firm XN. Her monthly newsletter, Mission Critical, about purpose-led professions reaches 20,000 people. She lives with her husband and two children in Brooklyn, NY.