Wade Channell, J.D., currently serves as the Senior Economic Growth Advisor for the Office of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GenDev) at the United States Agency for International Development. A specialist in business enabling environments, Wade has worked extensively on issues that constrain growth and private sector development, first as a commercial lawyer (in Brazil and New York) and then as a development professional. In 2013, he turned his focus to the disparate constraints faced by economically active women and now leads USAID’s efforts to establish a framework for promoting women’s economic empowerment and equality. He actively promotes comprehensive approaches to women’s financial inclusion, with an emphasis on secured lending.
Wade also serves as an adjunct professor at the George Washington University, teaching in both the policy school and the business school. He has lived in Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, Croatia (where he was president of AmCham), and Belgium, and has worked in more than 50 other countries on five continents.