Bertha French

Bertha French

Bertha is Research Lead at Criterion Institute, the leading think tank focusing on using finance as a tool for social change. Criterion Institute’s mission is to broaden what matters in our economic decisions by expanding who has power and influence in the work of reinventing the economy. Bertha provides creative leadership in the design and implementation of the Institute’s research methodology demonstrating how analyzing gender patterns can inform how we assign value and structure investments within systems of finance. She brings to that role a background in public health research, experience facilitating process innovation in the evaluation of gendered development programs and mobilizing resources for HIV/AIDS, poverty reduction strategies for mission-driven organizations including Ipas, the Harvard AIDS Institute, UNAIDS, and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Her interest in social finance stems from her time funding women’s initiatives in her former role as Advisory Board member and acting Director of Global Grantmaking at Mamacash, the first international women’s fund. As a THNK Health Innovation Fellow, she co-lead the design team for an AMS (Amsterdam Metropolitan Solutions) contest in the creation of an Urban Tech City Data Institute and third university on applied technology to tackle global urban challenges. In 2017, she became a Social Impact Fellow at Inspiring Capital and serves on the Reproductive Health Expert Committee for Equileap, a gender equality index.

Bertha has a BA from University of Virginia and an MPH from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She spent her formative years in Cote d’Ivoire and Niger and lived in the Netherlands for nine years. She speaks French, Hausa, and a little Dutch, and is working on reviving her Spanish and Portuguese. She lives in the heart of Harlem with her husband and three children.

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