Jason Wendle

Jason has 20 years of strategy and build experience in the social impact space. As a Managing Director at GDI Americas, he oversees a portfolio of initiatives that span migration, education, and employment. He runs the global track of the Talent Mobility Fund as part of his work to catalyze a new global development field enabling people to move for opportunity. He is a strategic advisor and board member at Labor Mobility Partnerships and Malengo after playing key roles in their early establishment and growth. He serves on the board of Justice Rising, which helps kids learn in conflict zones, and advises job tech pioneer, Tabiya. Previously at GDI, Jason helped the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery deploy $80M for transforming systems of forced labor and human trafficking. He also led the Mastercard Foundation Rural and Agricultural Finance Learning Lab, one of GDI’s efforts to define and shape the smallholder finance sector.

Before GDI, Jason helped establish and build the Nairobi office of Dalberg and its evaluation practice on the continent. Over seven years, he advised the world’s largest private foundations, donor countries, international institutions, African governments, Fortune 100 firms, and upstart innovators on achieving greater impact in agriculture, energy, technology, finance and investment, economic growth, and poverty reduction.

Jason holds an MPA/ID from Harvard’s Kennedy School, and has published and presented on migration, modern slavery, agricultural finance, impact investment, and impact measurement. Early in his career, he founded and led a church. Jason enjoys taking people, especially his kids, on outdoor adventures they didn’t know they needed.