Mari Kuraishi

Co-Founder and President, GlobalGiving Foundation

Mari is the co-founder and president of Global Giving which connects individual and institutional donors directly to social, economic development, and environmental projects around the world. GlobalGiving uses the Internet to create a highly efficient marketplace that enables more funding to reach projects throughout the globe and, at the same time, provides a more transparent, engaging way for donors to give. Since 2002, 212,700 donors have given $50,170,963 to 4,468 projects.

Prior to GlobalGiving, Mari worked at the World Bank where she managed and created some of the Bank's most innovative projects including the first ever Innovation and Development Marketplaces, and the first series of strategic forums with the World Bank's president and senior management. Mari also designed a range of investment projects in the Russia reform program, including a residential energy efficiency project, structural adjustment loans, and legal reform project. In addition to her native Japanese, Mari also speaks Russian, Italian, and French. She has an undergraduate degree in history from Harvard University and did graduate work in Russian and Japanese history and politics at Harvard and Georgetown Universities. Mari also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.