NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tillman Bruett has more than 25 years of experience in the financial sector including commercial banking, microfinance, and digital finance. He joined DAI in 2019 as the Global Practice Leader for Financial Services and Investment.

Till started and led the digital finance work at the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) from 2008 to 2018. He opened its office in the Pacific region where he designed, launched and managed the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme. In 2012, he opened UNCDF’s office in Brussels, Belgium, and started and managed the Mobile Money for the Poor programme. In 2018, he was tapped to be the Secretariat Director for the United Nations Secretary-General’s Task Force on the Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where he launched, guided, and managed a group of 17 CEOs, central bank governors and ministers, thought leaders, and UN agency heads.

Till was a banker in the early 1990s, working as a credit analyst and client manager with Chemical Bank’s international financial institutions division in New York. In 1996 he crossed over to development when he joined FINCA International helping to set up and fund microfinance institutions. He co-founded Alternative Credit Technologies in 2000, a consulting company specialized in building inclusive financial systems. Till taught regularly at Georgetown University and was an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) from 2005 to 2008.