Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg

Dr. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg is an Executive-In-Residence currently designing and building a global initiative focused on Black women senior leaders. She also serves as an advisor and ambassador to the Rise program and supports the Talent Engine programs at Schmidt Futures integrate global perspectives and a social inclusion lens into their work. She previously served as the inaugural Executive Director of the Rise program, a joint initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust.

Dr. Kamau-Rutenberg has in the past served as Director of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) which works towards inclusive, agriculture-driven prosperity for the African continent by strengthening the production and dissemination of more gender-responsive agricultural research and innovation. Dr. Kamau-Rutenberg also founded and served as Executive Director of Akili Dada, an award-winning leadership incubator that invests in high-achieving young women from under-resourced families, who are passionate about driving change in their communities. She was also an assistant professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco where her academic research and teaching interests centered on African politics, gender, international relations, ethnicity, and democratization, and the role of technology in social activism.

She has received recognition for her work, including being honored as a White House Champion of Change by the Obama Administration, named one of the 100 Most Influential Africans by New African magazine, recognized as a Ford Foundation Champion of Democracy, awarded the United Nations Intercultural Innovation Award, named one of Kenya’s Top 40 Women Under Age 40 and a 2018 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow.