Jennifer Esterline

Jennifer is the founder and director of Educate Texas' Philanthropy Advocates, a collaboration of private, corporate and community foundations across the state working to promote, protect and improve Texas public and higher education through advocacy and public policy. Through this role, she provides executive leadership and project management for Philanthropy Advocates and executes a strategic plan. She builds and maintains relationships with Texas policymakers and philanthropic and nonprofit partners and manages a grants portfolio of nonprofit partners working with Philanthropy Advocates to execute policy projects.

Jennifer has been working in the nonprofit space for over 15 years, first as a program and development director for nonprofit and higher education institutions, and later as executive director for the KDK-Harman Foundation in Austin. She also served as founder and principal of Esterline Consulting from 2013-2019, where she consulted with a number of philanthropic and nonprofit clients from across the state and nationally on issues of high-impact philanthropy, resource development, board development and management, strategic planning, collective impact, coalition building, and effective advocacy and public policy strategies. Through her consulting work, she helped the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute develop and implement a multiyear, multimillion-dollar resource development initiative across Texas.

A proud product of Texas public education, Jennifer grew up in Dallas and holds a bachlor's degree in Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree in public affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs.