About

Charu is the Deputy Director of the Cisco Foundation, with nearly 20 years of experience and success in
strategy development, program design and execution, social impact evaluation, operational management,
and leadership. She has designed, executed and evaluated global initiatives across multiple disciplines,
including economic empowerment, access to financial services, critical human needs, education, gender,
institutional capacity building, and transparency and governance ? with an emphasis on vulnerable and
underserved population groups.
Charu has engaged with senior business executives, government leaders, multilateral development
organizations, non-profit organizations, and social entrepreneurs in more than 25 countries in every
region of the world to drive results and impact.
She began her career at the World Bank, where she provided policy advice to national governments and
led technical assistance programs in areas of poverty alleviation and economic development.
Prior to joining Cisco, Charu was part of the management team of the Financial Sector Development
practice of Deloitte Consulting (Emerging Markets Group), where she developed program strategies, led
client engagements, provided technical assistance, managed diverse project teams, and oversaw
relationships with key corporate and public sector clients.