Susan Davis (BRAC USA)

Infobox Person
name =
Susan Davis


Alma Mater = Georgetown University, Harvard University, Oxford University
occupation = President & CEO of BRAC USA

Susan Davis is a thought leader in international development and civil society innovation. She is a founder and current President & CEO of BRAC USA, a newly created organization to support BRAC, a pioneering development organization from Bangladesh, introduce its innovative development approach to improving the health, wealth and well-being of the poorest women and their families in Africa and other countries in Asia.

Career

Susan is a senior advisor to New York University's Reynolds Program for Social Entrepreneurship since its inception. Susan led Ashoka's Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship and serves on its international board committee that selects Ashoka Fellows. She also oversaw expansion to the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia and served as a Senior Advisor to the Director General of the International Labor Organization. She was the Executive Director of Women's Environment & Development Organization, a global women’s advocacy organization that pioneered new mechanisms for the global women’s movement to influence negotiations at global United Nations meetings from 1993-1998. Prior to that, she 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. She also helped to start in Bangladesh and served as its first volunteer representative. Susan also served as the Assistant Director of the first quasi-public export trading company launched in the 1980s by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. [http://www.brac.net/usa/leadership_team.php]

Memberships

*Grameen Foundation – Founding Board Member and Immediate Past Chairperson of the Board of Directors
* [http://www.nyu.edu/reynolds/index.flash.html New York University’s Reynolds Program on Social Entrepreneurship] - Senior Advisor
* - Susan Davis led Ashoka’s Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship and oversees Ashoka’s expansion to the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. She serves on the Ashoka board committee that selects social entrepreneurs around the world. Susan was senior advisor to the Director General of the International Labor Organization.
* [http://www.projectenterprise.org/index.html Project Enterprise] – Board Member
* [http://smwf.org/ Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund] – Board Member
* [http://www.awdf.org/web/ African Women’s Development Fund USA] ] – co-treasurer and Board Member
*Aid to Artisans – past Board Member
* [http://www.realizingrights.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=139 Realizing Rights Advisory Council: the Ethical Globalization Initiative] .

Education

Ms. Davis was educated at Georgetown, Harvard and Oxford universities. [http://www.brac.net/usa/leadership_team.php]

ee also

* BRAC USA
* BRAC
* Dr. Fazle Hasan Abed
* Microfinance
* Microcredit
* Social entrepreneurship

External Links

* [http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/03/22/brac-microfinance-creditsuisse-oped-cx_sdrd_0326brac.html Forbes: Microfinance Meets Wall Street]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_txKMz064FY Susan Davis and Peter Bladin at Zeigeist Europe 2007]
* [http://www.brac.net/usa/ BRAC USA]
* [http://www.brac.net/ BRAC]
* [http://www.youtube.com/bracusa1 BRAC on YouTube]