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Christina Sass
Founding Partner at Dive In
Christina Sass is a prominent figure in the tech and education sectors, best known for her role as the Co-Founder of Andela, a global company that specializes in engineering-as-a-service.1 She currently serves as the Chair of the Andela Advisory Council, a position she has held since July 2019.2
Career Highlights
Andela: Christina co-founded Andela in 2014, where she initially served as COO and later as President until November 2022.2 Andela's core function is to help companies build high-performing engineering teams by investing in Africa's most talented software developers.2 Under her leadership, Andela has selected the top 0.7% of over 150,000 applicants from across the African continent.2
Other Roles: In addition to her work with Andela, Christina has an impressive array of professional engagements:
- Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations since June 20182
- Advisory Council Member for the NYU Stern School of Business Center for Business and Human Rights since April 20152
- Board member of the non-profit Global Give Back Circle1
- Education topic expert for the Clinton Global Initiative University annual meeting1
Background and Education
Christina has a diverse background in education and employment programs, having worked in China, Gaza, the West Bank, Kenya, and Nigeria.1 Prior to co-founding Andela, she:
- Directed the Program department of the Clinton Global Initiative
- Advised the President and CEO of The MasterCard Foundation, a $9B global foundation focusing on education and financial inclusion for youth in Africa1
Her educational background includes:
- BA in Ancient Philosophy from the University of Georgia
- MA in International Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University1
Christina Sass's work has been recognized by various media outlets, including Forbes, CNN, The New Yorker, NBC, and WIRED.1 Her expertise in tech education and her efforts to bridge the global talent gap have made her a respected figure in the industry.
Highlights
I am thrilled to announce that I have accepted the position of President and CEO of the International Youth Foundation (IYF) effective June 1, 2024. This is truly a great honor and a privilege for me because the IYF’s mission aligns so uniquely with my life-long commitment to, and long-standing mission of, unleashing the potential of young people on a global scale.
After getting to know the IYF Board and team, and hearing that they wanted an entrepreneurial leader who would help meet this moment for youth worldwide, I was hooked. Lucky for me, they were too. The IYF has a remarkable history of impact:
-34 years of operational experience. -Work in 182 countries with 615 local partners. -7M young people served in person to date, and another 6.3M assisted online. -A focus on finding the solutions that work with the best local partners and scaling them.
As many of you know, we are again witnessing a massive shift in the world of work with both daunting challenges and huge opportunities. I am humbled by the talent I’ve found within IYF and I am incredibly motivated to work along side them to do even more: To harness the power of AI for job creation, not job decimation, to train and deploy youth into ‘green jobs,’ and to unlock talent through the development of life skills and industry-specific training.
Those of you who know me well know that scalable youth employment is the north star that has always inspired and motivated me. I’ve had the privilege to work on this issue my entire career, including as a co-founder of Andela, which has now launched thousands of career paths for young technologists starting in 6 countries in Africa and now in over 130 countries!
In the past two years, I’ve gotten to work side by side with my coach, mentor and friend Jeff Hunter and the extraordinary team at Talentism in building Dive In Labs, a firm that both invests in and gives extensive coaching to social impact-focused founders building scalable workforce development companies. We are already seeing the effectiveness of our model and I am excited that our work will continue with me moving into an investment committee and active advisor role.
I particularly want to thank my Andela family, my Dive In and Talentism colleagues and the IYF team and Board for their support. I will call them out by name below.
If you’re thinking: How can I help? How can I get involved? Thank you and YES you can! In a comment below I will share 4 ways you can help, including sharing this message.
At IYF, we know that the best ideas and solutions come from youth and from the communities we serve. I’ll be traveling to connect directly with youth and potential partners, to listen, learn and partner to better serve global youth together. Please reach out if you are interested in learning more about IYF or if you have ideas as I embark on this next chapter.
A must-read: "We believe that making our financial system more diverse and equitable will not only lead to stronger, more balanced economic growth in the U.S., it would lead to more stability within our system. This "distraction" is potentially the solution."
