Michael Faye

Michael Faye is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of GiveDirectly and co-founder and President of Segovia Technology, which provides software to manage bulk payments and cash transfer programs, in the emerging markets.

GiveDirectly has been ranked a top international charity by GiveWell, recognized by FastCompany as one of the top 10 most innovative companies in finance, and was said to be “sending shockwaves through the charity sector” by the Guardian. Michael’s work on international development has been published in the American Economic Review, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Foreign Affairs and others. He is a term member of the Council of Foreign Relations, was named one of Foreign Policy’s 100 leading Global Thinkers in 2013 and has spoken extensively on development and philanthropy including at this year’s Brooking-Blum Roundtable in Aspen. Prior to this, Michael received a PhD in Business Economics from Harvard, from where he also holds a BA in Math and Classics.