Marking a new chapter with gratitude for our Global Executive Director, Tatiana Glad
We extend our deep gratitude to Tatiana Glad, whose visionary leadership has left a lasting mark on the Impact Hub Network. Since becoming Global Executive Director in 2022 — after more than a decade of stewardship at Impact Hub Amsterdam — Tatiana has guided our community with bold innovation, resilience, and a firm commitment to impact. Her leadership has helped strengthen today’s thriving Network, supporting over half a million Impact Makers worldwide and shaping our ecosystem into a more connected, resilient, and purpose-driven community.
- Impact Hub Network
- Global team
As Tatiana steps into a new chapter, her influence will continue to guide our journey as she joins the Impact Hub Global Advisory Board. Below, she reflects on her remarkable journey, the achievements we have made together, and her hopes for the future.
Dear friends, colleagues, and partners
“To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is, you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived.” – from Jonathan Livingstone Seagull
Twenty years ago, I “arrived” at the very first Impact Hub — a place where my values, vision, and impetus for a better world could take flight. From that moment, I’ve been on an extraordinary journey in the Impact Hub Network: from local founder to global board member, from community-builder to co-investor, and most recently as Global Executive Director. Reflecting on this voyage, I see how each step brought new learnings, enriching my experience and reinforcing my commitment to transformative change through entrepreneurship.
As we turn the page on 20 years since the first Impact Hub opened its doors in early 2005, and as I now move on from my role as Global Executive Director, I celebrate how – together – we have turned bold ideas into tangible impact, navigated crises with resilience, and proven the power of collaborative yet distributed leadership to create an infrastructure for systemic change. I’ve seen first-hand how locally rooted place-based innovation strengthened by global connections can drive adaptability and foster sustainable livelihoods — much like living systems thrive through diversity and interdependence.
In the past three years alone, we:
- Expanded into new markets while revamping our growth approach toward regionally-driven, sustainable development.
- Rebuilt organisational strength post-pandemic, with data-driven strategies and upskilling leaders across 100+ Impact Hubs in governance, business health, and communications through a peer and practice-based model.
- Facilitated over 80 translocal collaborations annually and supported nearly over 10,000 entrepreneurs and innovators through our spaces, programmes and partners; our cumulative community now surpasses half a million.
- Pioneered the Issue-based Ecosystems Building approach, a flagship methodology supporting the work of our Impact Hubs to catalyse systemic change in food, forests, and circular economy transitions.
- Championed equity and climate action, launched an Inclusive Communications Guide, published resources for Indigenous and migrant entrepreneurs, and created a public impact stories repository. Check out our most recent Impact Report here!
- Advanced sustainable procurement and supply chain innovation offerings with corporates, forging partnerships with Good Market and People Planet First to improve market access for social enterprises.
- Scaled global visibility and influence, growing digital reach from thousands to hundreds of thousands, while positioning the network as a trusted policy advisor through EU GECES Expert Group, G20 Life Economies Report, and co-founding GALERI — amplifying the voices of impact entrepreneurs in shaping the future economy.
Leading this remarkable community has been the greatest honour of my professional life. None of our progress would have been possible without the unwavering dedication of our global team, the dreamers and doers in every Impact Hub, and the partners who have boosted our efforts. I am profoundly grateful to walk this path alongside such extraordinary colleagues: talented professionals, fearless provocateurs, and compassionate collaborators. Your commitment to the Impact Hub mission and to the communities you serve locally has been the heartbeat of this work.
Looking ahead, the world feels ever more complex — geopolitically, socially, and economically. Contraction is evident at every level, yet I believe more fiercely than ever in the power of enterprising minds and vibrant ecosystems to unlock possibilities where others see only constraints. The next frontier will demand that we learn not just from markets or movements, but also from nature’s intelligence — systems that regenerate, adapt, and create abundance without waste. What if our economies could do the same? I am taking a short, focused sabbatical to attune deeply to the emerging shifts shaping our world and to explore the pivotal points for transformative change. In an age unsettled by division and despair, true progress demands more than denouncing injustice — it calls for fostering environments in which dignity, integrity, and healing can thrive. I will continue to carry our shared purpose forward as a member of the Impact Hub Global Advisory Board, and I look forward to connecting with those ready to push the boundaries of innovation, equity, and impact — and champion the entrepreneurs bringing us closer to a regenerative future.
And as our crazy beautiful network enters a new strategic cycle, this is also a moment of consolidation — to gather strength, root deeper, and ready ourselves to ride the next wave. As poet Rainer Maria Rilke invites us to ‘live the questions’, I encourage us to embrace uncertainty and experiment courageously: What bold contribution can each of us make today to shape the future we long for?
With heartfelt gratitude and steadfast resolve,
With Hub Love,
Unleash your impact potential today
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