Education

Williams College

B.A., History

Princeton University

M.P.A., International Development

Podcasts

42:56

35: What It’s Like Leading Social Innovations & Impact Investing With Chris Walker, Mercy Corps [Main T4C Episode]

Chris Walker is the Director of Social Innovations at Mercy Corps, where he manages the Innovation Investment Alliance, a partnership between the Skoll Foundation and USAID that finances the scale-up of social enterprises. He also advises Mercy Corps’ Social Venture Fund, which invests in and accelerates impact-oriented, for-profit businesses. Prior..

Career Path

Interview Highlights

“I got a really good comparison between doing policy work and doing hands-on development work on the ground, then went back for my second, knowing a lot more. And having had that hands-on experience that I can then see how the coursework was really relevant to doing jobs in this area.”

Best Career Advice

“Whatever you want to do professionally, I’ve found that all of the best opportunities have come along in part through people I know and people who’ve been helpful to me. You still need to look for job announcements online and read for those openings and prepare your resume. But then, you’ve got to tap into your network and find out who knows whom at the organization that you’re applying to, who can give you advice, who can put your resume in front of the hiring manager.”

Career Challenge

“I was leaving behind a safe, secure prestigious government job where I was on a steady career path of promotion, where I could move up within the government. And really, for me, taking a big risk of leaving all that behind to learn about a new field, still within the scope of international development but one that I didn’t know where it would lead me to… My fellowship ended one week after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and the start of the financial crisis in the U.S. in the fall of 2008 and money dried up, especially in the social sector, nobody was hiring.”

Skills

International Development, Social Entrepreneurship, International Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility, Policy Analysis, NGOs, Sustainable Development, Program Evaluation, Nonprofits, Economics, Emerging Markets, Capacity Building, Microfinance

Professional Interests

Sarah Murray, Georgetown University, Williams College, Princeton University, Social Enterprise Scaling Up Community, INGOs in Impact Investing, Williams College 93, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs