Speakers

Pia Infante

Pia is the co-executive director and a trustee of The Whitman Institute, a private philanthropy that will spend out by 2022. She is one of the architects of Trust Based Philanthropy. Pia believes we have the collective imagination and power to redesign philanthropy to center the people we serve. Philippine-born, California-grown, and queer, oldest daughter in an immigrant family, Pia navigates difference to broker connection. Pia brings her chops as a former high school teacher, organizational development consultant, and nonprofit manager to her work. She chairs the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project steering committee and serves on the board of MediaJustice.org. Pia is visiting faculty at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Environment, and speaks and teaches in many settings. She holds a M.A. in Education from the New School for Social Research, and a B.A. in Rhetoric from The University of California at Berkeley. She lives with her partner and their toddler daughter in Oakland, CA.

David Risher

After a career as a general manager at Microsoft and an early executive at Amazon, David recognized how e-readers and digital books could give kids in underserved parts of the world better access to the life-changing experience of reading. Since co-founding Worldreader in 2010, David and the Worldreader team have expanded the organization to have impact in more than 47 countries, delivering high-quality books in 52 languages to over 14 million readers. Together, they’ve demonstrated how digital technology–combined with high-quality books, smart programming, strong partnerships–can accelerate reading around the globe and unlock the potential of the world’s next scientists, teachers, innovators, and explorers. David has degrees from Princeton University and Harvard Business School, is a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year Awardee, a Draper Richards Kaplan social entrepreneur, an invited member of the Clinton Global Initiative, and a Microsoft Alumni Foundation Integral Fellow.

Jennifer Risher

After graduating from Connecticut College, Jennifer spent two years working for a steel company in Tokyo, Japan teaching English to employees. She then had a brief stint in advertising before joining Microsoft in 1991 where she worked as a recruiter and then as a product manager. In 2004, Jennifer, her husband, and their two daughters moved to Barcelona, Spain for a year and ended up staying for seven. As a family, they traveled around the world in 2008-2009, living in China, Australia, and New Zealand. Now, after 14 years of writing, Jennifer is thrilled that her book is being published September 15, 2020. “We Need to Talk: A Memoir About Wealth” tells her story about getting lucky and explores the hidden impact of wealth on identity, relationships and family. In May 2020, Jennifer and David launched the #HalfMyDAF challenge to inspire more charitable giving. They live in San Francisco, CA.

Stretching Beyond Boundaries: Giving Bigger, Bolder and Faster