Rajiv Shah

Currently serving as President of the Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. Shah offers over twenty years of experience in business, government, and philanthropy. Appointed as USAID Administrator by President Obama in 2009, and unanimously confirmed by the Senate, Dr. Shah was charged with reshaping the $20 billion agency’s operations to provide greater assistance to pressing development challenges around the globe. When Dr. Shah left USAID in 2015, he continued to create opportunities for communities to thrive in the developing world by founding Latitude Capital, a private equity firm focused on power and infrastructure projects in Africa and Asia. Prior to his appointment at USAID, Shah served as Chief Scientist and Undersecretary for Research, Education and Economics at the United States Department of Agriculture. He also served in a number of leadership roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he helped launch the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, a joint venture by the Gates and Rockefeller foundations, and the International Financing Facility for Immunization, which is credited with raising more than $5 billion for childhood immunizations worldwide.

Dr. Shah is a graduate of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and the Wharton School of Business.