Managing Director, Asia
Ashvin Dayal joined the Rockefeller Foundation in 2008. As Managing Director, Asia, he manages the Foundation’s regional office based in Bangkok, Thailand, and oversees work across Asia, strengthening and complementing the Foundation’s initiatives around the globe.
Before joining the Foundation, Mr. Dayal held various senior policy, management and leadership roles with the British aid organization Oxfam Great Britain, starting there in 1993. He most recently headed their South Asia operations from New Delhi, India, where he was responsible for developing and managing strategy and programs focusing on disaster management, climate change resilience, private sector engagement, agricultural development, and promoting women's economic leadership. This involved overseeing a network of teams and offices in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Previously, Mr. Dayal had been based in Thailand for six years as Oxfam’s East Asia Director, where, among other responsibilities, he led their largest-ever relief and recovery effort in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia. In addition he led the development of their new regional strategy for addressing inclusion, equality and vulnerability in the context of rapid economic growth. His efforts spanned work in Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Thailand, and the Philippines, and he also oversaw the execution of Oxfam's new strategy for working inside Burma. Prior to this, Mr. Dayal spent two years working in the UK as a program manager for Oxfam in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, covering post-conflict reconstruction and economic development programs in Bosnia, Yemen, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Mr. Dayal holds a bachelor’s degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University and a master’s degree from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. In addition to India, Thailand and the UK, he has lived in Israel and the United States.