Darlene Damm leads Ashoka’s relations in the Silicon Valley, building an ecosystem of global companies, foundations, investors, schools, and social innovators that are ensuring all humans develop the change-making skills of empathy, multi-directional teamwork, and the ability to continually innovate for the good of all—skills essential in our accelerating world of complex change. Prior to that, Darlene built Ashoka’s internal operating and fundraising system to manage thousands of entrepreneurial teams and partners around the world in a coordinated yet decentralized way. Darlene is the co-founder of DIYROCKETS (2012), which crowdsources affordable space technology online, and Matternet (2011), one of the world’s first drone companies for transporting goods, especially medical goods, in areas without roads. She is adjunct faculty at the Singularity University at NASA Ames. Darlene spent over a decade working in Vietnam, Myanmar, and East Asia on educational programs that empowered youth and helped bring their nations into the global economy. She received her bachelor’s degree in history from Stanford University and her master’s degree in international affairs from Johns Hopkins SAIS. She holds a patent, and her writings on women and entrepreneurship have been published in Forbes, Huffington Post, LeanIn, and other publications.
Darlene Damm
Change Leader, Ashoka Silicon Valley & Ashoka Global, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public