Who We Are
Photo Credit: Alexandre Bonneau-Afroto/ALIMA
Amrita Ahuja
Amrita comes to the WAM Foundation’s Allocation Committee with a background in public health innovation and international development. She leads the Douglas B. Marshall, Jr. Family Foundation, an innovative funder of international education, and is also a Senior Adviser to CRI Foundation, which funds healthcare programs in Africa as well as research in development economics and public health. She is a co-founder and current board member of Evidence Action.
An accidental social-entrepreneur, she led the start-up of Dispensers for Safe Water, and chaired the board of Deworm the World as it grew to reach its first 30 million children. She brings this experience to her service on the boards of several evidence-driven non-profit organizations such as Maisha Meds, Precision Development, Youth Impact and the Center for Global Development. Amrita has worked as a Management Consultant for the Monitor Group where she led commercial projects in pharmaceuticals and other industries and evaluated market-based approaches to delivering products and services to the poor. She holds a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University, and an A.B. (Mathematics and Chemistry) from Williams College.
Andrew Weiss
Andrew has played a vital role in the Foundation’s efforts since its inception and continues to be involved as a member of the Allocation Committee and the Board of Directors. Andrew is the founder and CEO of Weiss Asset Management (WAM). He is also a director of CRI Foundation, which established the Weiss Fund for Research in Development Economics at the University of Chicago.
Andrew is Professor Emeritus at Boston University and a fellow of the Econometric Society, to which he was elected in 1989. He ranks in the top 1% of published economists by citations. His co-authored paper “Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information” with Joseph Stiglitz was prominently featured in the Nobel Prize Committee Statement for Stiglitz’s 2001 Nobel Prize Award.
Andrew also serves on the Advisory Boards of the University of California Center for Effective Global Action, Last Mile Health, the University of Global Health Equity (Rwanda), and the UBS Optimus Foundation. He is a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ben Kornfeld
Ben, originally from New Zealand, led the Foundation’s early research efforts, and remains actively involved in the Foundation’s research and operations as a representative on the Allocation Committee and the Board of Directors. Ben joined the Foundation because of a long-time interest in leveraging evidence to guide policy and structures to improve outcomes for the most vulnerable. Ben has been at Weiss Asset Management for almost 10 years, where he has focused on investments in the energy space, particularly in opportunities created by the shift to renewables.
Harlan Downs-Tepper
Harlan is Program Director at the WAM Foundation. Prior to joining the WAM Foundation, Harlan was Chief of Staff at IDinsight, based in India and Zambia, where he advised foundations, governments, NGOs and social businesses on the social impact of their engagements. He has authored several articles on global health and development. Harlan received his Ph.D. in Public Policy and Political Science at Duke University, and his bachelor’s degree from Harvard.
Kara Weiss
Kara brings insight and expertise from an array of philanthropic roles to the Allocation Committee. In addition to her role with the WAM Foundation, Kara is the Executive Director of CRI Foundation, a strategic philanthropic foundation focused on cost-effective, high impact interventions geared to those living in poverty in low- and middle-income countries. Kara oversees CRI’s three programs: CRI Health, CRI-DIV, and CRI Research, and works with the Directors to establish CRI’s strategy.
Kara has also served as an “expert” for the Aspen Ideas Incubator, and as a Director or Trustee on the boards of Gardens for Health International, Spark MicroGrants, Seed Global Health, the Center for Development Economics at Williams College, and AMP Health.
Michael Kremer
Michael, the Chair of the Foundation’s Allocation Committee, directs the Development Innovation Lab at the University of Chicago, where he is a University Professor. He is the joint winner of Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (Economics Nobel Prize) 2019, for the “experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.”
Michael’s work focuses on innovation, including in education, health, water, finance, and agriculture. He has also worked extensively on how to design institutions to accelerate innovation, including through Advance Market Commitments (AMC) and social innovation funds. He is a co-founder and Scientific Director of USAID's Development Innovation Ventures (DIV), an open, tiered, evidence-based fund that supports innovation for development.
Matt Rinaldi
Matt has been at Weiss Asset Management since 2006 and is currently serving as the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the firm. He brings this experience to the Foundation as Head of Operations and as a member of the Board of Directors. Matt also serves on the Board of Directors for We Care Solar, a non-profit organization that reduces maternal mortality by providing health workers with reliable lighting, mobile communication, and medical devices using solar electricity.