Jacob Lief is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Ubuntu Education Fund, a non-profit organization that takes vulnerable children in the townships of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, from cradle to career. Ubuntu's programmes form an integrated system of medical, health, educational and social services, ensuring that a child who is either orphaned or vulnerable could, after several years, succeed in the world of higher education and employment. Ubuntu's child-centred approach highlights the difference between merely touching a child's life versus fundamentally changing it. In 2009, Lief was selected as an Aspen Institute Global Fellow. In 2012, he was asked to join the Clinton Global Initiative Advisory Committee. Later that year, he was named one of the world's 101 most innovative visionaries at the Decide Now Act Summit. Lief holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania.