After an extraordinary journey with the William Davidson Institute, I have decided that this is the right time for me to step down as President and CEO of WDI.
Serving this organization has been a profound privilege. WDI holds a distinctive place in the world: at its heart, it is an educational and research organization advancing business knowledge, developing leaders, and applying rigorous thinking to real-world challenges in emerging markets. I have been honored to work alongside WDI’s exceptional staff, University partners and students, Board members, funders, and global collaborators to strengthen that mission and help position the organization for its next chapter.
Over the past two years, we have built on WDI’s deep strengths in education, research, training, and applied learning while sharpening a shared vision for how WDI can support enterprises across the entrepreneurial value chain. Together, working directly and with partners, we have:
- Repositioned WDI for growth and impact with a strategy that reflects the challenges of today and the decades ahead, while strengthening WDI’s institutional foundations through a renewed brand and new organization-wide systems for planning, performance management, and impact measurement.
- Reinforced WDI’s role as a knowledge builder by rebranding and expanding the WDI Academy, developing new learning offerings including Investor Readiness Training and Impact Measurement and Management, and creating the Insights Hub to make more of WDI’s evidence, practical tools, and lessons accessible to the field.
- Used rigorous, evidence-driven research to identify solutions to persistent challenges facing entrepreneurs in emerging markets and the ecosystems that support them, then worked with exceptional partners to co-create practical, market-informed approaches.
- Advanced important work to understand the financing needs of African enterprises in health and e-mobility, including the types of capital enterprises need at different stages of growth and how catalytic capital can help unlock additional commercial investment.
- Supported climate tech mapping and commercialization strategies for energy and e-mobility companies, including a lab-to-market playbook and the foundations for an e-mobility center of excellence.
- Deepened partnerships with local organizations, governments, multilaterals, funders, investors, and University colleagues, creating new pathways for WDI to connect insight to action and help strengthen the ecosystems in which entrepreneurs grow.
I am deeply grateful for the commitment, creativity, and excellence of the people who make this work possible every day. The progress of the past two years reflects the determination and talent of our remarkable team, and I am so proud of what we have built together. I expect much continued success from this team in the years to come.
As I look ahead, I feel called to focus more directly on the catalytic and implementation side of this work: helping strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems, mobilize capital, build markets, and work alongside those bringing solutions to scale for some of the world’s greatest challenges. That path is a natural extension of the values that drew me to WDI: the belief that ideas, talent, enterprise, and disciplined execution can improve lives, strengthen economies, and create more equitable and sustainable futures. WDI’s research, training, and thought leadership help define what is possible and illuminate the pathways forward; I am eager to devote my next chapter to the market-building, capital-mobilizing, and partnership-driven work that helps turn those pathways into durable change.
I leave with immense appreciation for the opportunity to have led WDI and with confidence in the enduring importance of its mission. I am committed to supporting a thoughtful and smooth transition, and I will be cheering on the organization’s continued success.
