Dr. Elizabeth Strand is the Founder and CEO of Build Change. Elizabeth was named a 2011 US Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Schwab Foundation, and is the winner of the 2011 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability. Elizabeth is a 2004 Echoing Green Fellow, a 2006 Draper Richards Kaplan Fellow, a 2009 Ashoka-Lemelson Fellow, and was a Fulbright scholar to India in 2002-2003.

Build Change was the winner of a 2008 Tech Award for Technology Benefiting Humanity in the Equality Category for making earthquake-resistant housing solutions available to homeowners regardless of income level. Elizabeth and Build Change’s work have been featured featured in the New York Times, BBC website, NPR All Things Considered, abcNEWS World News Tonight Person of the Week, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and Elle Magazine.