Global Social Impact Executive · Ottawa, Canada
Translator. Builder. Scale architect.
Twenty years of building bridges: from policy to capital, from science to industry and from innovation to scale. Working across the United Nations, global philanthropy, corporate ESG and blended finance in the service of impact.
I am a senior global executive whose career has been defined by one persistent question: how do you make good ideas reach the people who need them most, at the scale that actually matters?
I have worked on that question from inside the United Nations, from think-tanks at NYU and UNU, from early-stage ventures, from a corporate ESG chair at Export Development Canada, and now from Grand Challenges Canada — where I am currently designing a $300 million Scale-Up Fund and a $200 million outcomes-financing vehicle to do precisely that.
My background is unusual in that it spans both the policy and multilateral world and the corporate and private capital world. I have run UN reform processes whose outputs were delivered to the Security Council. I have also helped Mars, McCormick, and Cargill redesign their supply chains for social and climate outcomes. Most people do one or the other. The ability to hold both — and to translate between them — is where I add value that is genuinely rare.
I have founded two organisations (one of which I deliberately wound down), helped triple a third, and grown two advisory practices. I am a serial founder with a policymaker's frame and an operator's instincts.
Yale BA. Fletcher School MA in Law and Diplomacy. Fluent in English and French; functional in Italian, Spanish, and Farsi.
Designing capital structures that stack sovereign, philanthropic, and private capital behind a single impact thesis. Scale-up funds, outcomes-based vehicles, first-loss instruments, and commercial windows.
Building ESG frameworks from scratch, securing board approval, and embedding them operationally. Experience at sovereign export finance level (EDC) and in supply-chain ESG with Global 100 companies.
Multi-stakeholder convening at UNGA, Davos, and G7 level. Track record of bringing governments, multilaterals, foundations, and private capital to the same table around concrete deals.
Designed multi-country strategies for Cargill, Mars, McCormick, and Target to leverage development finance and drive gender-inclusive social and climate outcomes through agricultural supply chains.
Moving innovations from research to delivery at population scale. Systems-level intervention design, scaling collectives, and the "choreograph & connect" architecture for sustainable market uptake.
Built and led boutique impact advisory practices to profitability. Combines client relationship management, policy credibility, and the operational discipline to deliver engagements that change what funders do.
Scale-Up Fund designed & launched with GAVI and 500 Global at Grand Challenges Canada
G7 commitments to investment in innovation secured through quiet diplomatic process
UN peacekeeping portfolio made more efficient through new partnership architecture
People projected to be reached within 5 years through current scale interventions
Designed and launched a $300M Scale-Up Fund with GAVI and 500 Global, structured with commercial and catalytic windows to attract sovereign, philanthropic, and endowment capital. Led the G7 process that secured $2.7 billion in commitments to innovation investment. Currently scoping a $200M outcomes-financing vehicle. Executive sponsor for organisation-wide AI strategy. Led the 2030 strategy process to double the capital base and reduce single-donor dependency.
Led boutique ESG advisory practice to 50% revenue growth. Clients included the Government of Canada (Federal Sustainable Development Strategy review), major infrastructure partnerships, private sector firms including Sobeys and Aviva, and the Mastercard Foundation. Specialised in supply-chain strategy and ESG benchmarking.
Developed a new ESG policy and risk management framework for Canada's sovereign export finance institution; secured Board approval within nine months. Led and coached a 14-person policy team plus oversight of due-diligence (65 FTE) and innovation (13 FTE) units. Embedded strategic foresight into planning and oversaw national consultations. Executive sponsor of the Sustainable Finance Innovation unit. Led global government relations for ESG work including gender equity and child labour.
Led a social impact advisory firm within CARE with operations across nine countries. Worked with Cargill, Mars, McCormick, and Target to redesign supply chains for gender-inclusive social and climate outcomes. Built complex public-private partnerships including the White House Partnership for Central America (served on PCA advisory board). Grew the practice to over $11M in annual revenue.
Built and led the first executive directorship of a global alliance launched as a major outcome of the World Humanitarian Summit. Established operations spanning Geneva, London, New York, Washington, and Ottawa. Convened governments, technology companies, foundations, and operational partners at UNGA and Davos around concrete deals. Partners included Gates Foundation, Microsoft, Accenture, Soros Economic Development Fund, IFRC, IRC, and Grand Challenges Canada.
Selected to lead new policy entity advising the incoming Secretary-General on Agenda 2030, public-private partnerships, AI for climate and sustainability, and digital transformation. Led the Chief Executives Board process to coordinate the entire UN family around SDG delivery. Produced influential blue-sky papers on AI, climate, pandemic preparedness, and global innovation.
Held progressively senior roles across the Executive Office of the Secretary-General and UN-OCHA: led the High-Level Panel Secretariat that conceived the major UN peacekeeping reform process; ran Policy and Innovation for OCHA including authoring Humanitarianism in the Network Age (the first major policy report on digital humanitarianism); and built new partnership architecture that enabled the $8 billion peacekeeping portfolio to deliver more efficiently.
Number two at CIC, with responsibility for a $5M budget and approximately 20 staff. Led strategic planning, fundraising, and execution that saw CIC triple in size and become one of the most influential think-tanks on conflict and security globally. Joint lead for a track 1.5 diplomatic process on Afghanistan involving 12 countries at senior diplomatic and security level. Lead author on major OECD policy papers on statebuilding and resilience.
Managed a $6.5M community-based rehabilitation programme in Afghanistan for the UN with 2,400 staff. Consulted for the World Bank Social Development department on participatory monitoring. Paralegal on Pigford v. Glickman, one of the largest civil rights class actions in US history. Co-founded multiple technology start-ups subsequently acquired by ESPN (CricInfo) and Dow Chemical (Rely Software).
Designed and launched a tiered fund structured with commercial and catalytic windows to attract sovereign, philanthropic, and endowment capital behind proven global health innovations. A model for de-risked innovation finance at population scale.
Led a quiet diplomatic process that secured $2.7 billion in G7 commitments to protect investment in innovation. Spawned a parallel global process to coordinate regional philanthropies to co-invest in impact at scale.
Defined EDC's new ESG policy and risk management framework from scratch, built the core team, and secured Board approval within nine months at one of Canada's most significant public financial institutions.
Designed multi-country strategies with Cargill, Mars, McCormick, and Target to leverage development finance for gender-inclusive climate and social outcomes in agricultural and consumer supply chains across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Built complex public-private partnerships in support of the Biden administration's Partnership for Central America. Served on the PCA advisory board. Worked with UHNWI family offices, foundations, and global MNCs on blended capital structures.
Built a new global multilateral institution from a blank sheet of paper as a major outcome of the World Humanitarian Summit. Convened governments, technology firms, and foundations at UNGA and Davos. Eventually made the deliberate decision to wind the organisation down when its mission had been absorbed — demonstrating institutional judgment as well as institution-building.
Major Reports & Publications
Policy Research & Analysis
Articles, Op-Eds & Commentary
Two-part series on resilient and values-driven leadership in global humanitarian work, alongside Dr. Joanne Liu, former International President of Médecins Sans Frontières.
Built to Lead Podcast →On what a humanitarian sector fit for the 21st century looks like, and how to thoughtfully close down organisations when their moment has passed.
Future of Good: Edge & Main →SDG Live panel at the World Economic Forum alongside Ericsson's Chief Sustainability Officer, moderated by MSNBC. On how technology can advance the Global Goals and humanitarian action.
UN SDG Live →Frequently invited speaker, panelist, and moderator at leading global impact forums including the Skoll World Forum in Oxford, UNGA side-events, and Devex development media.
Devex profile →Published in Maclean's during COVID-19 on the responsibilities of philanthropy in a global crisis and the structural failures of the international response.
Read in Maclean's →A CV records what someone has done. These are the words of people who have worked for Rahul, alongside him, and above him — across the UN, corporate ESG, and global development. The recurring theme is unusual for a senior executive: strategic rigour and genuine human warmth in the same person.
Rahul was in many ways the beating heart of the organisation's supportive, ambitious, occasionally rogue, and always impact-driven culture. He knows how to effectively challenge and support each person to bring out their very best while continuously helping them grow, how to motivate and inspire a team, and ultimately, how to rally an organisation around a shared vision and make working hard to achieve it a genuine pleasure.
Rahul has shown some of the most 'human' and approachable leadership that I've seen at an executive level. He applied a holistic and strategic view to advancing key ESG issues, while leading with empathy and pragmatism, and would go out of his way to encourage diverse perspectives. If you ever have the chance to work for Rahul, I'd wholeheartedly recommend that you take it.
What stood out was his domain expertise in sustainability and innovation, his ability to influence and inspire creative efforts, and an uncanny knack to evaluate current realities and deal with broken paradigms by identifying new ways. He would be an awesome addition to any executive team looking for a next-generation leader who is empowering and resilient, with a tremendous global perspective and a strong strategic compass.
Rahul is one of the most forward-thinking strategy partners the team at CARE has engaged. The models and approaches he developed are still being used by CARE to engage corporations like Mars and Hershey in how we embed savings groups in their supply chains. Rahul is a strategic thinker, but also courageous in how he approaches systems-level problems that require bold solutions.
Rahul is a skilled … and policy expert with an impressive ability to navigate complex multilateral systems and policy processes. He is an exceptional strategic thinker and engages senior politicians, diplomats and senior … with ease, while not being afraid of complex substantive issues. I can think of few leadership positions in the foreign policy or broader strategic analysis domain for which Rahul would not be exceptionally well positioned.
Rahul is an excellent … and team leader, comfortable in small team settings and on a global stage at high-profile events. He is able to articulate a clear vision and support a team to take practical actions to make real change happen. He sets a high standard for performance but also manages to make the process creative and fun.
Rahul is a natural ideas generator, a sharp policy and political analyst, a compelling public speaker and an effective networker. He brings intelligence, energy, vision and a sense of humour to any initiative he works on.
I had a great experience working with Rahul on two youth-driven, intergenerational projects. On the UN Foundation's Big Brainstorm advisory panel, he gave the groups who pitched concrete and motivational feedback, and even committed to ongoing support to help them deliver their action plans. On the intergenerational drafting team behind the "Contract for Our Future," presented to global leaders at the UN's Stockholm+50 Conference, Rahul was great at both encouraging and challenging young people, and offered practical advice on running an effective advocacy campaign.
Available for senior roles & advisory
I am open to conversations about senior leadership roles, board positions, and advisory engagements in global social impact, sustainable finance, and innovation at scale.