Marli Porth

Marli Porth is the current Chief of Staff at Root Capital. Prior to that, they were a Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative from February 2009 to April 2015. There, they co-created and co-led A Path to Empowerment, a research and events series examining how large multinational firms can contribute to and participate in global women’s economic empowerment most effectively. Porth also organized regular issue-specific, invitation-only, high-level roundtables with senior managers and executives at major multinational corporations engaged in or interested in women’s economic empowerment. Examples of roundtable topics include creating a champion culture for women employees, engaging with women entrepreneurs in the global value chain, empowering individual women contributors (i.e., artisans, farmers, factory workers) in the global value chain, and investing in women in the community through health/wellness, leadership, and other programs.

In addition to their work with A Path to Empowerment, Porth was also responsible for leading research on the primary framing report for the initiative, A Path to Empowerment: The Role of Corporations in Supporting Women’s Economic Progress (pub. April 2015). Marli served as a consultant to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Corporate Citizenship Center for its annual International Women’s Day Forum at the United Nations, helping to develop the conference’s framework, craft themes, write descriptions of the event and its

Marli Porth completed a BA in Theirtory at Emory University. Marli then attended Middlebury College to study French language. After completing their studies, they worked as a public policy analyst for a few years. Marli then decided to pursue a career in public policy and enrolled in Georgetown University's MPP program.

Marli Porth reports to Willy Foote, Founder & CEO. Some of their coworkers include Melissa Delgado - Junior Advisory Associate, Leonor Gutiérrez - Director, Women in Agriculture Initiative, and Darcy Salinger - Chief Credit Officer.