Till Bruett has more than 25 years of experience in the financial sector including commercial banking, microfinance, and digital finance. He joined DAI in 2019 as the Global Practice Lead for Financial Services and Investment. Till is no stranger to DAI. He co-founded Alternative Credit Technologies in 2000, a consulting company specialized in building inclusive financial systems that regularly worked with DAI in the 2000s on its flagship financial sector projects.

“The pace of technological change is having profound impact on how societies and economies function, and the financial sector is no exception. Digital is changing how finance is done and who does it. So much is in flux in finance and there is much untapped potential for development if we can distinguish that which is helpful or hopeful from the hype.”—Till Bruett

Till started and led the digital finance work at the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) from 2008 to 2018. He opened its office in the Pacific region where he designed and managed the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme. In 2012, he opened UNCDF’s office in Brussels, Belgium, and started and managed the Mobile Money for the Poor programme. In 2018, he was tapped to be the Secretariat Director for the United Nations Secretary-General’s Task Force on the Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where he launched, guided, and managed a group of 17 CEOs, central bank governors and ministers, thought leaders, and UN agency heads.

Till was a banker in the early 1990s, working as a credit analyst and client manager with Chemical Bank’s international division in New York. In 1996 he crossed over to development when he joined FINCA International helping to set up and fund microfinance institutions. Till taught regularly at Georgetown University and was an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) from 2005 to 2008.

• B.A., political science, Duke University
• M.A., international economics and European studies, SAIS