April Rinne is an expert on the sharing economy (or collaborative economy) and what it means for business, policy, cities, non-profits and global growth markets. She focuses on the power of the sharing economy to transform everything from marketplaces and value creation to public policy, urban planning and employment. She advises companies, start-ups, local governments, investors and think tanks on a range of issues.

Most recently, Rinne was the Chief Strategy Officer of Collaborative Lab, where she worked with companies and governments to embrace the sharing economy. She built and led Lab’s Shareable Cities practice, designed to help public leaders apply the power of collaborative models to catalyze sustainable growth, boost local economies, increase resilience and build community.

Rinne is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, where she heads the Sharing Economy Working Group, and is on the Sharing Economy Advisory Board for Seoul, South Korea. She also stays on the forefront of disruptive business innovation, financial inclusion, law, policy, and micro-entrepreneurship through her roles on the Board of Directors of the World Wide Web Foundation, advisory board of Harvard’s Law and International Development Society (LIDS), and her membership in REX (the Relationship Economy eXpedition).

Rinne has illustrated her thought leadership in publications such as The Guardian, The Washington Post, and the Huffington Post, as well as at the World Economic Forum. She has spoken to Fortune 50 companies, start-ups, governments, universities and foundations around the world including MIT, Emory University, Social Innovation Generation (SiG), Institute for the Future, Etsy and EcoDistricts.

Previously, Rinne was Director of WaterCredit at Water.org where she led innovative initiatives focused on sustainable marketplace creation throughout the developing world. She has also worked as a private lawyer focusing on international finance at Allen & Overy, taught for the International Development Law Organization, and advised numerous social enterprises and investors including Kiva, Grameen and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Her ground-breaking work in microfinance focused on the role of reputation and social capital as key success drivers, and she was part of the team that was the first to create microfinance vehicles for the poor and unbanked to promote equitable financial inclusion.

Rinne holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.A. in International Finance and Business Relations from the Fletcher School, and a B.A. in International Studies and Italian from Emory University. She was also a Fulbright Scholar at the European University Institute and a visiting student of politics and economics at Oxford University. She speaks fluent Italian, Spanish and passable French and brings global perspective to her work, which is helped by her travels to 86 countries (at last count) and more than ten years living, working and studying overseas. Don’t compete with her on handstands: you’ll lose.

Economic Development, Business Leadership, Economy Experts, Futurism, Women in Leadership, Women in Business, Economy, Finance, Financial Inclusion