Hillary Miller-Wise

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Deputy Director

I have 25+ years of experience at the nexus of financial services, agriculture, and technology. I have dedicated my career to providing access to financial markets for excluded populations, especially low-income women and smallholder farmers. Currently, I am a Deputy Director in the Inclusive Financial Systems team at the Gates Foundation, where I lead the team's work on driving the availability and use of affordable financial services among low-income people around the world. Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, I spent 15 years in Africa developing and deploying mobile financial services with partners such as Vodacom, Airtel, MTN, Equity Bank, and Ecobank. I also served as CEO of two tech start-ups providing financing and access to markets for smallholder farmers. Earlier in my career, I led a microfinance bank in Tanzania and then advised banks such as Bancosol in Bolivia and Banco do Brasil on product development for low-income rural clients. I hold a B.A. in literature from Middlebury College, an M.A. in economics from Johns Hopkins University, and an MBA from INSEAD.