Pia Wilson-Body envisioned a career in investment banking on Wall Street. But, as she puts it, life had other plans.
Instead, she worked through a career in finance at automotive giant Chrysler before landing at a tech company that would lead her to her true calling — and to Oregon. She is now the president of Intel Foundation, the philanthropic arm of chipmaker Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC)
The foundation invests in STEM education programs, provides disaster relief and helps employees invest in their communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. Here in Oregon, the foundation recently coordinated $300,000 in employee donations for relief efforts following the devastating 2020 wildfires.
We caught up with Wilson-Body to talk about her work. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Did you know much about Oregon before you moved here? Not at all. They invited me out. This was the second time they invited me out and the whole week it was beautiful. It was April and it wasn’t raining. I was telling my husband, “gosh this is nice.” (Recruiters) did say “hey, you know our winters and now we are at the tail end.” They were trying to explain it to me but it was not until that first year then I said, “Oh, OK, I get it now.”
Regardless of what brought me here we have just made great friendships and relationships over our 15 years. So I am pleased with that.
You’ve been at Intel for 15 years. What has made you stay? Intel is a fascinating place. I don’t want to give off like it’s this fairy tale land. It’s fascinating from the standpoint that I entered here in an HR management position but two-and-a-half years (later) I was on to my next, what I call, career experience. And that was Intel Foundation. So there’s not many places where you can build another career under one organization. I think that has been the staying power for me because I’ve been able to reimagine or reinvent myself time and time again. Of greater importance is that the Intel Foundation aligned to my personal mission statement.
What is your personal mission statement? To empower others to reach their full potential. But I also believe that it requires us to meet people where they are on their life’s journey. The Intel Foundation really aligns to that mission in that it really is around being that catalyst for change. That is how I see it aligning with my personal mission.
The foundation works on a lot of STEM education and outreach programs. Three years ago the Intel Foundation really put our investment behind a program that we call She Will Connect. That was to excite, to empower, to engage middle school girls in STEM. What we did differently with this initiative is to host an open RFP, which was new for the foundation and something that we were adamant about and have nonprofit organizations submit proposals. Now key to that, we were not looking for the sea of sameness of all STEM organizations. What we wanted to do is create a cohort of organizations that could wrap around the girl.
What does that mean? So, if you’re hungry you're not worried about some STEM project. So what we did was make certain that we created this cohort community whereby they could leverage the best that they had to offer and leverage the strengths of those organizations. They work together as a unit to uplift that young person and be able to support them in the long term.
What do you see as the role for technology or any large company in the community? I’m a strong believer in public private partnerships. I just think tech companies have a great opportunity to co-create and collaborate with community partners.
But, to be successful we must be good listeners and I say listeners with a capital L so we can co-create a solution that’s going to meet the needs of the community. I served on the Oregon Futures Commission where a host of leaders from academia, business, government and nonprofits convened for six months to create a 10-year innovation roadmap for Oregon.
I think key to building out that 10-year roadmap was our ability to actively and simply listen and understand each other’s point of view and experiences. I think that really helped drive us to our recommendations that I believe will help boost Oregon’s economy.
Pia Wilson-Body
Title: President, Intel Foundation
Hometown: Dayton, Ohio
Education: Bachelor’s in economics and business from Spelman College
Boards: YWCA USA; Center for Women’s Leadership at Portland State University
What are you currently reading: “The Alchemist,” By Paulo Coelho and “Just as I Am: A Memoir,” by Cicely Tyson
Last thing you binge watched: “Finding Your Roots” and “The Queen”
Favorite Portland restaurant: Screen Door
