College '17 | New York, NY/New Jersey

Margaret ("Midge") Purce plays professional soccer for the United States Women’s National Team and Sky Blue FC. As a member of the National Women’s Soccer League‘s collective-bargaining executive committee, she champions equal playing conditions for female athletes. She’s also an advisor to Coaches Across Continents, a global non-profit that uses soccer to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Purce became passionate about sustainable development during her time at the World Bank, where she collaborated with NGOs to analyze the cultural and economic implications of bank aid in foreign countries.

At Harvard, Purce played varsity soccer, becoming an All-American, two-time Ivy League Player of the Year, and the first person in League history to earn Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year simultaneously. A psychology concentrator and pre-med student, she was involved in the Race and Ethnicity Program at the Institute of Politics.

As a recent college graduate, Purce says she hopes she will provide the Board with the invaluable perspective of current students and recent alumni, offering a unique outlook that is currently absent. Purce understands coming to, attending and leaving Harvard can pose extraordinary obstacles, and she is committed to helping the Board serve students and alumni who are overcoming obstacles of their own.