Monica Ellis

Governing Board Member

Monica is Chief Executive Officer of Global Water Challenge (GWC), an action-oriented coalition of corporations, NGOs, and other organizations committed to achieving universal access to clean water and sanitation.

Monica also serves as CEO and is a founding member of the Global Environment & Technology Foundation (GETF). Under Monica’s leadership, GETF and GWC have mobilized over $350 million for clean water access and community development efforts that today benefit over 14 million people in Africa, Central and Latin America, and India.

A sustainable development leader, Monica has worked throughout the world on a range of natural resource and economic development issues, focusing particularly on clean water, climate, technology, health, and economic empowerment issues. She specializes in developing high impact partnerships with leading companies, government agencies, civil society, and philanthropists that result in resilient communities. Her passion centers on working with vulnerable communities, assisting their efforts to gain clean water, sanitation and ultimately, economic opportunity.

As an advocate of innovation, she has also helped launch several successful companies and platforms in the environmental technology, information technology, and communications sectors. She is a member/advisor to several boards, including GETF, DigDeep, Water For People, the Johns Hopkins University Global Water Advisory Board, US Water Partnership, the Graham Sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan, the Global Water Institute at the Ohio State University and Ketos.

She is a graduate of the University of Missouri and a proud recipient of American University’s William K. Reilly Award for Environmental Leadership.