Raj Kumar is a Washington, D.C.-based social impact leader, journalist, and author specialized in global development.
Raj is President & Editor-in-Chief of Devex, the independent news organization he co-founded as a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School. A social enterprise, Devex has over one million members, and he leads a global staff of over 130 Devexers.
Raj is also the author of The Business of Changing the World, an influential book about the future of global aid and philanthropy that was reviewed by Bloomberg, NPR, PBS, Vox, and others. He has interviewed on-camera and on-stage hundreds of global luminaries on the most important challenges of our time, and is a sought-after speaker and panel moderator.
Raj is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent trustee of Save the Children, and a media leader for the World Economic Forum. He is an independent advisor for numerous organizations and initiatives, including the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and Harvard Public Health magazine. As a social entrepreneur himself, Raj is an active investor and advisor across social enterprises and startups, and chairs the board of Zoomforth, a marketing software company. Prior to Devex, Raj co-founded a financial media company that was sold to TheStreet.com. He also had a career in politics, including as political director at PSB Associates and a member of the press advance team for the Clinton White House. Raj graduated from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Raj spent time growing up in Kerala, India. Nowadays he often visits Colombia, where his wife Maria Teresa Kumar — the voting rights leader and political commentator — was born. Throughout his career, he has witnessed firsthand courageous development, health, and humanitarian work in over 60 countries - it’s what drives the Devex mission to “Do Good. Do It Well."