Hey there! I'm Nick.

I start, grow and support ambitious companies, organizations and teams that aim to put a positive dent in the universe.

 

I live and breath at the intersection of:

• It's a big problem I care deeply about; global health, extreme poverty, technology, democracy and climate.

• There are wonderful, ambitious, excellent people to work with on it; I love to work with pragmatic idealists, excited to learn quickly, move fast, and swing for the fences.

• I have something unique to contribute; this often means building organizations, teams, products or technology, understanding how to influence public policy, and ways of mobilizing money at massive scale. More info here.​
   

I'm currently President and CEO of GiveDirectly, which uses technology to send cash directly to people living in poverty, and has variously been named amongst the most audacious (Inc), innovative (FastCompany) and fastest growing (Forbes) organizations in the world. GiveDirectly has delivered $800m in cash transfers to people living in extreme poverty, and has been a major player in doing the academic research that has established unconditional cash transfers as one of the most impactful, efficient and scalable interventions that exists in the fight to end extreme poverty.

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Before joining GiveDirectly, some of my projects included working to mobilize tens of millions of dollars to fight lead poisoning in low and middle income countries, AI applications for increasing access to healthcare, increasing government expertise and appetite for seizing opportunities and mitigating risks associated with AI, and supporting a number of social impact or human rights organizations with fundraising, technology, strategy and team operations. 

I was previously CEO of Change.org, the technology platform for civic action and grassroots organizing used by 500m+ people globally. In my 10+ years there across multiple roles I built the technology and user experience of the site, grew the global footprint to 20 countries, and helped established Change.org as the largest non-profit owned technology company for social impact in the world.

I co-founded the fundraising and awareness campaign Live Below the Line, and have been an advisor or board member for groups including MakePovertyHistory, the Horizon Institute for Public Service, OzGreen, and PL+US. I’ve led social and political campaigns in support of democracy, global health and climate action across the US, Asia and Australia. I started my career as a facilitator, and my first and potentially my hardest job was working in a meat processing factory in rural Australia.

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I love to speak and share lessons on entrepreneurship, product development/growth, AI and social impact, and have been lucky enough to do so at Reforge, Oxford University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Melbourne University, Products that Count, Personal Democracy Forum and RightsCon.  

 

I’ve a degree in Law and almost finished an Arts degree majoring in Philosophy & Political Science at Monash University, and spent time studying at both Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and the Harvard Kennedy School of Public Policy. The World Economic Forum thinks I'm a 'Young Global Leader', and The Age identified me as one of Melbourne’s 100 most influential people.

 

I've lived in Brooklyn, New York since 2014. I grew up in rural Australia, and have lived and worked in San Francisco, Melbourne, Sydney, Bangkok, New Delhi and Jakarta. I spend down time running, reading, laughing with friends, and thinking about community and relationships.