Dafna Tapiero

Dafna Tapiero is the Co-Founder of Laurel Strategies, Inc. where she leads the Strategic Philanthropy and Community Investment offering of the firm. Tapiero brings to Laurel Strategies over twenty years of experience at the World Bank Group launching funds and new implementation models for development, ranging from financial system reform in East Asia, to agricultural land privatization in Russia, to corporate social responsibility. In 2014, she also served as Senior Advisor on Innovative Financing in the Office of the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme, forging partnerships and financing mechanisms to build resilience and increased preparedness for climate-induced natural disasters. Previously, at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a development finance institution with over $22 billion in total investments, she was the Worldwide Head of Corporate Social Responsibility (and the Global Strategic Community Investment Division), applying business approaches, developing financial models and strengthening environmental and social management systems in order to simultaneously increase benefits to communities and mitigate local level risks for clients. In 2013, Tapiero was named one of the 100 Most Inspirational Women in Global Mining. Following the Asian Financial Crisis, she also founded and managed the World Bank’s Financial Sector Reform and Strengthening (FIRST) Initiative, a US$ 66 million global fund established to provide direct support to countries in reforming and developing their financial systems.