Dan Crisafulli

Daniel Crisafulli is Director of Ecosystem Investments and Partnerships at the Skoll Foundation, where he leads field-building initiatives in social entrepreneurship through grantmaking and for-profit investments.

Prior to joining the Skoll Foundation, Dan comanaged the Development Marketplace (DM), the World Bank’s social entrepreneurship and innovation program, beginning in 2004. He led the expansion of the DM from a $3.5 million to a $10 million annual program by expanding its on-the-ground activities in developing countries and by mobilizing 80 percent of its funding from external partners in private industry and government. He brought a venture capital approach to the DM by taking a hands-on role in the success of investees. The DM’s model of support for small-scale solutions to social and economic challenges was designated a “best practice” in corporate innovation by the Harvard Business Review.

Dan developed a venture approach toward investing as Investment Officer and cofounder of the technology venture capital group at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which he joined in 2000. At IFC, he built an investment program focusing on early-stage technology companies with social impact and served on the boards of several early-stage companies. He initiated the IFC’s $20 million investment in NewPath, an India/US semiconductor design company, and its $10 million investment in Pakistan’s TRG.

Dan’s earlier work at the World Bank focused on technology, finance and small business investment. In 1998 he led a $750 million technology and science reform program in Mexico that resulted in the country’s first major technology policy reform in more than 25 years. Dan began his career with the London-based consultancy L|E|K Partnership, a leading adviser in the field of mergers and acquisitions.

Dan earned a bachelor’s degree in government 'summa cum laude' from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard University, where he was a Kennedy Scholar.