Dianne Calvi
Advisor and Former CEO of Village Enterprise
Dianne Calvi served as President and CEO of Village Enterprise from 2010 to 2026, leading the organization’s transformation into a multi-country leader in evidence-based poverty graduation. During her tenure, she focused on strategic partnerships, innovation and technology, rigorous monitoring and evaluation, and building an outstanding, predominately African team.
Under Dianne’s leadership, Village Enterprise expanded to nine countries across Africa and helped more than 2.3 million women, children, and men move out of extreme poverty. The organization completed multiple independent randomized controlled trials demonstrating multi-faceted, cost-effective impact, launched the first Development Impact Bond for poverty alleviation in Africa, and partnered with local and national governments to integrate poverty graduation programs into public systems at scale. During this period, Village Enterprise also secured a $7 million MacKenzie Scott grant and was recognized by Fast Company for innovation, as well as by Charity Navigator (four stars and perfect score), Candid (Platinum), The Life You Can Save, ImpactMatters, the Rockefeller Foundation, Innovations for Poverty Action, and Million Lives Collective.
Prior to Village Enterprise, Dianne served as President of Bring Me A Book Foundation, a literacy nonprofit she scaled through domestic and international partnerships. Earlier in her career, she worked in the private sector with Microsoft. She has served on several nonprofit boards, including InterAction and LifeMoves.
Dianne received the Stanford President’s Award for the Advancement of the Common Good and currently serves on the National Advisory Board for the Stanford Haas Center for Public Service. She holds a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, where she studied as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.
