Susan Davis is the founding president and CEO of BRAC USA, a grantmaking affiliate of BRAC, an international development organization started in Bangladesh in 1972. She has also been a senior advisor to New York University's Catherine B. Reynolds Program for Social Entrepreneurship since its inception.
In addition, Davis led Ashoka's Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship and serves on its international board committee that selects Ashoka Fellows. She also oversaw Ashoka's expansion to the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia and served as a senior advisor to the director general of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
From 1993–1998, she was the executive director of Women's Environment & Development Organization.
Prior to that, Davis led innovative initiatives aimed at scaling up microfinance institutions that were owned and governed by poor women at Women's World Banking and the Ford Foundation in Bangladesh. During her four and half years in Dhaka, she organized the Grameen Bank, BRAC and Proshika donor consortia to scale up microfinance.
Featured Work
JUN 29, 2011 • Podcast
Ethics Matter: Microfinance Pioneer Susan Davis
Microfinance started as a movement for social justice and women's equality and gave birth to an industry, says Davis. This gave rise to scale, efficiency, ...
FEB 7, 2011 • Podcast
Just Business: Susan Davis on Business Solutions to Fight Poverty
"Although there is no magic bullet, social entrepreneurship unlocks everybody's ability to be a change maker and to participate in the solutions to their own ...