Gary White ’94 (M.S.)
Gary White has devoted his life to creating sustainable solutions to provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation to millions of people throughout the world. He is a humanitarian, social entrepreneur, and innovator who leads Water.org and WaterEquity, two nonprofits he co-founded with actor Matt Damon to end the global water crisis.
White excels as an engineer, entrepreneur, financier, business advisor, and humanitarian leader. He developed WaterCredit, which applies the principles of microfinance to the water sector by demonstrating how making small loans with affordable interest rates available in extremely impoverished communities can result in transformative benefit. In this case, more than 15 million microloans have allowed communities to immediately address their own water and sanitation needs. As international recognition of his work has increased, foundations have approached Mr. White for advice on attaining humanitarian goals, compounding the impact of his work across the globe.
Since 2003, White’s nonprofits have helped provide access to safe water and sanitation for 70 million people in more than 18 countries. He has mobilized philanthropic capital and investment capital totaling more than $5.7 billion toward achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 of clean water and sanitation for all.
White’s work has landed him on TIME magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people, and he has received a World Social Impact Award from the World Policy Institute, the Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship, a prestigious Skoll Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and recognition by former President Bill Clinton at his Global Initiative Conference.
