Rinne comes to Water.org after nearly a decade focused on international microfinance, where she worked with dozens of microfinance institutions (MFIs), investment funds and organizations seeking to expand access to capital in the developing world. She has provided legal and strategic advice to microfinance stakeholders in the U.S., Europe, India, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In addition, she frequently teaches policy and business practitioners about microfinance and serves on the advisory boards of several microfinance-related organizations.
As the global director of Water.org’s WaterCredit initiative, Rinne is responsible for expanding the network of WaterCredit MFI partners and forging linkages between the microfinance and water/sanitation sectors more broadly. This empowers more MFIs to offer financial products focused on the water and sanitation needs of their clients, thereby enabling more people to have access to clean water and safe sanitation while deploying philanthropic, social and commercial capital more efficiently.
Commitment to Water.org
“I has been committed to serving the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) for as long as I can remember, and have been fortunate to have various opportunities to do so. Microfinance represents my deepest passion, though I have also been interested in global water issues for many years. I will never forget experiencing water scarcity and the impacts of sanitation first-hand in several of the 79 countries I have visited to date.
WaterCredit represents a unique opportunity to put microfinance tools and access to catalytic capital to work to address the needs of the poor for clean, safe water. I am delighted to join forces with Water.org to help pioneer scalable, sustainable financing solutions for this potentially vast market to meet one of humanity’s most basic and desperate needs.”
Education and Professional Affiliations
Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum, 2011
Board of Directors, World Wide Web Foundation
J.D., Harvard Law School
M.A., International Finance and Development Economics, The Fletcher School
B.A. summa cum laude, International Relations, Emory University
