CEOUpaya Social Ventures
Kate is a fierce believer that global poverty is not inevitable and that entrepreneurialism is one of the sharpest tools to fight it. She leads Upaya Social Ventures, a nonprofit organization that accelerates and invests in early stage companies that create lasting jobs for the poorest of the poor in India. Since 2011, Upaya has accelerated over 75 companies and invested in 29 companies that have created more than 30,000 lasting jobs for the extreme poor in India. Dedicated to proving impact and not just assuming it, Upaya assiduously tracks jobholder income, which shows an average doubling at the household level following a job with an Upaya portfolio company.
Previous roles include COO for Vittana, an organization creating student loan markets in developing countries and a range of executive roles at Unitus, a microfinance accelerator. She is a frequent speaker on social entrepreneurship and the intersection of markets and mission. Kate holds a BA from Stanford and an MBA from UCLA