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

Wendy Taylor is President and CEO of the William Davidson Institute, a non-profit affiliated with the University of Michigan dedicated to supporting businesses, entrepreneurship and market-based solutions in low- and middle-income countries. She is charged with leading the development of WDI’s strategy and steering the organization toward its next phase of growth.

Taylor is an innovation leader and entrepreneur with over two decades of experience building and leading high-impact teams. Working at the intersection of public, private and not-for-profit sectors, she has founded multiple enterprises, catalyzed innovations to tackle some of the world’s toughest health challenges and leveraged market-based solutions for transformational impact. As Vice President for Technical Leadership and Innovation at Jhpiego, Taylor led a large, multidisciplinary team focused on driving accelerated impact across women’s health, infectious disease, primary health care, global health security and climate-health. As a Rockefeller Foundation fellow, she identified ways to leverage advances in artificial intelligence, digital health and data technologies to transform global health. And at the US Agency for International Development, she founded and led the Center for Innovation and Impact, which applies innovative, business-minded approaches to accelerate the development, introduction and scale-up of priority global health solutions. Previously, she held senior positions with several global health nonprofits, including Bio Ventures for Global Health, which she founded, and served in both the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. Government, including the Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means. She received a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University.