Maura O'Neill

rdf:langString Maura O'Neill

rdf:langString Maura O'Neill

rdf:langString Maura O'Neill

rdf:langString Chief of Innovation at the Agency for International Development

rdf:langString Vaho Rebassoo

rdf:langString Chief of Innovation Agency for International Development

rdf:langString Maura O'Neill (born September 6, 1956) was named the First Chief of Innovation and was a Senior Counselor to the Administrator in January 2009 at the United States Agency for International Development. She currently is a Distinguished Teaching Fellow in the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business. While at USAID, O'Neill co-led USAID Forward, the global initiative to reform foreign assistance. She adapted venture capital and drug discovery methods to drive faster, cheaper, more sustainable solutions to global governance, health, food security and economic growth. Co-creating the Development Innovation Ventures (DIV), it attracted partnerships with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Skoll Foundation and later its offshoot, the Global Innovation Fund, with UK, Sweden and Australia AID agencies and Omidyar Network. She also co-created the Development Innovation Ventures, now known as the Global Innovation Fund, which has received 6,000 applicants since 2010. Before USAID, she served as the Senior Advisor of Energy and Climate and Chief of Staff for the Under Secretary at the United States Department of Agriculture. There, she authored President Obama's Biofuels Strategy. In 2008 to 2009, she served as the Chief of Staff for United States Senator Maria Cantwell.