January 18, 2016

Susan Davis leaves BRAC USA after a decade creating opportunities for the poor


A decade ago, Susan Davis co-founded BRAC USA to advance the mission of BRAC, the development organisation founded in Bangladesh that creates opportunities for the poor. The U.S. branch, based in New York, is dedicated to fighting poverty in Africa and Asia and has raised millions of dollars to advance this mission. Davis has pioneered significant partnerships with the Mastercard Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Nike Foundation and Rockerfeller Foundation.

For her work to mitigate extreme poverty around the world, Davis has been awarded the 2015-16 Rotary Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award. “It feels like a circle of completion,” she said, Davis was a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar in 1980-81, doing graduate studies in international relations at Oxford University in England. “Rotary invested in me when I was young, and now is celebrating the harvest.”

Davis also is co-author, with journalist David Bornstein, of the book “Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know.” And she is involved with Ashoka, a nonprofit organization that supports social entrepreneurship; as a director, she oversaw its expansion to the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia.

After founding BRAC USA and providing ten years of dedicated service Susan decided to leave BRAC at the end of 2015. From the UK we thank her for her extremely valuable contribution to BRAC and wish her all the best in all of her future endeavors.