Krista Donaldson , PhD

CEO


Palo Alto, CA

Krista has been working at the intersection of design and international development for over twelve years. Prior to coming to D-Rev in 2009, Krista was an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Diplomacy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State. At State, she worked on economic policy and the reconstruction of Iraq's electricity sector, earning recognition for her contribution to bilateral relations. From 1998 to 2001, she worked as a design engineer and researcher with KickStart International (then ApproTEC) in Nairobi, Kenya. She also has worked at the product design firm IDEO. A native of Nova Scotia, Krista has a BE in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University, a MSE (Product Design), MSME and a PhD from Stanford University. Her doctoral work was among the first to focus on engineering and social entrepreneurship in less industrialized economies. Krista has taught at Kenyatta University and the University of Cape Town and is currently a lecturer at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University. She is the author of numerous papers and articles on design, international development and higher education. Krista is a 2010-2012 Rainer Arnhold Fellow and a 2011 Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow.