Teresa Clarke

IWA Team

June 9, 2026

Teresa Clarke
Chairman, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

Teresa H. Clarke is the Chairman, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. She is also the Chairman and CEO of Africa.com LLC, a role she began in 2010 after stepping down from a managing director position in Goldman Sachs’ investment banking division.

Under her leadership, Africa.com has grown into a leading Africa-focused platform, attracting roughly five million page views each month from users in more than 200 countries. The site curates news, insights, and travel information covering all 54 African nations and contributes to shaping global perceptions of the continent.

While at Goldman Sachs & Co., Clarke managed mergers and acquisitions and advised on corporate finance for major U.S. and European Fortune 500 clients. She also led the Goldman Sachs Africa-Aspen Programme, a leadership initiative for rising African public- and private-sector leaders, developed in partnership with the Aspen Institute.

In South Africa Residence (1995–2000), during this period, she taught corporate finance in the MBA programme at Wits Business School and served on the investment committee of a private equity fund focused on Southern Africa.

Motivated by addressing South Africa’s leadership pipeline gap, she founded the Student Sponsorship Programme (SSP). SSP offers scholarships and mentoring to academically talented but economically disadvantaged South African students to attend private schools. Since its inception, SSP has supported scholarships for over 600 high school students, amounting to more than $10 million, with more than 90% of graduates advancing to higher education.

Clarke serves on the boards of SSP South Africa, the Southern Africa Legal Services (Legal Resource Centre), the Tony Elumelu Foundation, and the Opportunity Agenda. She is also an emerita board member of the Harvard Business School Alumni network.

From a lineage steeped in the noble tradition of learning to a visionary career spanning media, justice, and the arts across the African continent, Clarke’s journey inspires as a tapestry of impact and prestige. Her unwavering devotion and transformative leadership culminated in her being awarded one of South Africa’s most esteemed national honors—the Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo.

She bagged a bachelor’s degree in economics, cum laude, from Harvard College, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.