PeopleofSuperintelligence

Lab leader

Elise Porter

Elise Porter is the executive director of Harvard’s Kempner Institute, which studies natural and artificial intelligence. She worked in hospital administration at Boston Children’s and Beth Israel Deaconess before joining Kempner in August 2022 as its inaugural executive director; she holds an MBA from Simmons College and an MA from Boston College. At Kempner, she has backed the computing infrastructure for machine-learning research and large language models, with attention to energy efficiency. In March 2026, she is executive director as the institute announces an expansion of its AI cluster to 1,144 GPUs.

Timeline

  1. March 2004–April 2013

    Administrative roles at Boston Children’s

    At Boston Children’s Hospital, she is an Administrative Assistant from March 2004 to October 2007, an Executive Assistant from October 2007 to March 2008, and a Division Director and Division Manager from March 2008 to April 2013.

  2. April 2013–August 2022

    Hospital operations at Beth Israel

    At Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, she serves as Administrative Director from April 2013 to October 2017, then Director of Business Development and Operations from October 2017 to August 2022.

  3. August 2022

    Executive director at Kempner

    She joins the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Harvard University as its inaugural executive director in August 2022. She holds an MBA from Simmons College and an MA from Boston College.

  4. November 2023

    Machine-learning research cluster

    In November 2023, she describes Kempner’s expanded GPU cluster as infrastructure for large machine-learning projects. The institute adds nearly 400 H100 GPUs for generative-AI research.

  5. November 2024

    Energy-efficient AI cluster

    Kempner’s cluster lets researchers train large language models and examine how they work. In November 2024, she describes energy efficiency as part of the cluster’s mission, and the system ranks 32nd on the Green500 list.

  6. March 2025

    Spring into Science

    In March 2025, she gives welcome remarks at Kempner’s second Spring into Science event, where fellows and students present their recent research.

  7. March 2026

    Expanding Kempner’s AI cluster

    In March 2026, Kempner announces an expansion of its AI cluster to 1,144 GPUs, with 424 H200 and 192 RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPUs to be added. Porter serves as the institute’s executive director and says the expanded cluster will support research in AI and natural intelligence.

Career

  1. Since 2022Harvard UniversityExecutive Director, Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence
  2. 2017–2022Beth Israel Deaconess Medical CenterDirector of Business Development and Operations
  3. 2013–2017Beth Israel Deaconess Medical CenterAdministrative Director
  4. 2008–2013Boston Children's HospitalDivision Director and Division Manager
  5. 2007–2008Boston Children's HospitalExecutive Assistant
  6. 2004–2007Boston Children's HospitalAdministrative Assistant

Education

  1. Simmons UniversityMBA
  2. Boston CollegeMA

From the biography.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Elise Porter yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Elise Porter’s email & phone number - Executive Director, Kempner Institute at Harvard University | SignalHire signalhire.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Elise Porter - Kempner Institute kempnerinstitute.harvard.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Harvard’s Kempner Institute Expands Academic Computing Cluster, Adds Nearly 400 GPUs | The Harvard Crimson thecrimson.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Kempner AI cluster named one of world’s fastest ‘green’ supercomputers — Harvard Gazette news.harvard.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. Community and Creativity Bloom at the Kempner Institute’s 2nd Annual Spring into Science Event - Kempner Institute kempnerinstitute.harvard.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Massive Increase of Computing Power for Kempner Institute at Harvard - Kempner Institute kempnerinstitute.harvard.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.