Erin Harkless Moore leads the fund and direct investment program for Pivotal Ventures, a company created by Melinda French Gates to advance social progress in the United States. With nearly 20 years of investment experience building and managing customized portfolios for endowed institutions and family offices, Moore is responsible for identifying, investing, and overseeing a diverse portfolio of investments that drive breakthrough innovations and advance women’s power and influence. 

On a day-to-day basis, Moore is deeply involved in discovering and cultivating relationships with leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and founders—a skill that has been essential to her success. She has sourced and conducted diligence on investment managers across asset classes, with particular focus and expertise in private markets and early-stage venture capital, and has managed investment portfolios ranging in size from $100 million to over $1 billion. 

Moore also serves on the Pivotal Ventures Executive Leadership Team, where she is responsible for setting organization-wide priorities and approving cross-functional bodies of work. Prior to joining Pivotal, Moore spent eight years at Cambridge Associates, most recently as a managing director. She has extensive experience developing strategies for impact and mission-aligned investments, advising on investment governance best practices, and writing and speaking frequently on investing with a social equity and gender equity lens and investing in diverse and emerging managers. Moore has spoken at industry events sponsored by organizations such as the Milken Institute Global Conference, the Social Capital Markets Conference, Forbes, Private Equity Women Investor Network, and others. 

Earlier in her career, she held positions at the Princeton University Investment Company, Summit Rock Advisors, and Goldman Sachs. Moore received her MBA from the Harvard Business School as a Robert Toigo Foundation Fellow and her BSBA, magna cum laude, from Washington University in St. Louis as a John B. Ervin Scholar. She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder and member of the CFA Society of Washington, DC. In 2022, she was honored as part of the inaugural Black Women in Asset Management 40 under 40 List. 

Outside of work, Moore serves on the board and investment committee for Builders Initiative, a family foundation dedicated to social and environmental change in pursuit of a humane and healthy planet. She is also an active volunteer for her alma mater, Washington University, where she currently serves as an at-large member of the Alumni Board of Governors. In addition, she sits on the advisory council for White Oak Enterprises, a multigenerational family office. 

Moore is a former member of the board of the DC Public Library Foundation, where she served as treasurer and chair of the finance/investment committee. A native Texan, she resides on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, with her husband and two children. When not chasing after her kids, Moore enjoys exploring new restaurants, spending time with friends, traveling, reading, and writing fiction.