Julie Swaenen

Julie Swaenen is an Investment Manager at the Jacobs Foundation, where she supports the Foundation’s asset-management function and acts as a key link between strategy, governance, and execution. Before rejoining the Foundation in 2026, she already worked at JF as a Programme Manager during a one-year secondment in 2023, where she most notably was involved in the building of the SCALE partnership in Ghana.

Julie joined the Foundation after having spend 5 years at McKinsey & Company, where she was a Junior Manager mostly working on projects in the public and social sector, with particular emphasis on philanthropy. Within this role, she supported various public and private sector clients solving key strategic questions, including for instance investment and funding strategies, designing a Theory of Change, as well as cost management and operational excellence.

Julie holds a Master of Arts in Strategy and International Management at the University of St. Gallen, as well as Master of Science in Applied Economics at the University of Antwerp. During her studies, she did various internships in the private sector at Deloitte, Credit Suisse and Prophet, as well as in the public sector for the Embassy of Belgium and the Belgian Mission to the United Nations.