ABOUT US

Cynthia is a firm believer in the potential for business to alleviate poverty. Her career has focused on incubating mission-based businesses designed to alleviate poverty in the developing world. She has helped launch ventures of all shapes and sizes, ranging from community-run ecotourism businesses in Mexico and Guatemala to a national strategy for sustainable tourism development in Bhutan. Her nearly two decades of living in and working with communities throughout Central America, Southern Africa, South and Southeast Asia have given Cynthia deep insights into the challenges and opportunities facing consumers who struggle to survive at the base of the economic pyramid. These experiences led her to launch Wello, an award winning social venture that co-creates disruptive innovations designed to provide better, more reliable access to safe water and introduces opportunities for families to break free from the cycle of poverty. Cynthia earned MBA/MS degrees from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and Environment and holds a BA in Anthropology from Trinity College. She is a 2011 Unreasonable Institute Fellow and a member of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainability's External Advisory Board.