Deirdre White

Deirdre White is a globally recognized leader in building tri-sector partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems. With over 30 years of experience in the social impact space, Ms. White is currently CEO of PYXERA Global, and is a well-known voice and actor in harnessing private sector resources to address social challenges. Widely cited as a thought leader at the intersection of international development and corporate citizenship, Deirdre has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Fast Company, The Huffington Post, and Forbes among others. She has contributed to Fortune, MarketWatch, the Council on Foreign Relations Development Channel, TriplePundit, and Stanford Social Innovation Review as well as being a featured speaker at the Shared Value Leadership Summit, Wharton Africa Business Forum, Wall Street Journal’s CFO Network, and US Department of Commerce’s Discover Global Markets. Deirdre is currently a member of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Advisory Council and the leadership council for Better World Leadership. She previously served as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA), as a member of the Board of Directors for IMPACT2030 and for the US Center for Citizen Diplomacy, and on the Advisory Board for the PKG Center for Public Service at MIT.

Deirdre’s expertise spans private, public, and social sector experiences. She began her career in the private sector, working with Welt International, a consulting firm engaged in non-conventional means of financing international trade ventures. She later expanded her private sector experience as a Senior Manager at Arthur D. Little, Inc., leading post-privatization restructuring efforts for large manufacturing enterprises in Russia and Ukraine. She also led projects in ADL’s Public Sector practice, focused on strategy and organization for the US Agency for International Development, the US Trade and Development Agency, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and government agencies across Eurasia. In addition, Deirdre served as an organizational development advisor to several of the Eurasian oil and gas sector’s largest firms.

Deirdre’s social sector tenure at PYXERA Global is complemented by previous roles at the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) and American Councils. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Deirdre was co-facilitator of the Clinton Global Initiative’s Employee Engagement Action Network. She was a delegate to Rockefeller Foundation’s renowned Bellagio Initiative on the Future of Philanthropy and Development, the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread’s Leadership Forum for Global Citizen Diplomacy, and she is an alumna of the Aspen Institute’s Socrates Program.