Christina Sass is the Co-founder and former president, now chair, of Andela, a company CNN has referred to as "The startup that's harder to get into than Harvard." Over the past five years, Andela has hired almost 2,000 developers and has been recognized as the "Best Place to Work in Africa," boasting tech campuses in Lagos, Nairobi, Kampala, and Kigali. Finance for the company has been provided by Generation IM, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV, and Spark Capital, with Andela driving global engineering teams and spearheading the growth of tech ecosystems across Africa. Concurrently, Sass is a General Partner at Dive In, an early-stage VC firm focused on investing at the intersection of diverse talent and the Future of Work globally. The company's ethos, DIVErsity INvestments, is not only reflected in its name but also in its commitment to investing in diverse companies that have demonstrated superior performance.

In addition to her work at Andela and Dive In, Sass is a committed advocate and supporter of women worldwide, and she has enforced a high standard when it comes to recruiting female software engineers at Andela. While tech companies in the U.S. with 100 or more software engineers struggle to employ 10 percent of women in technical positions, Andela currently reports early 30 percent female engineers in its program. To further this effort, Sass has initiated multiple female-only recruitment cycles and boot camps in both Lagos and Nairobi and led the “She Loves Code” initiative, a program in which women in the program mentor young women in their communities.

Before co-founding Andela, Sass created education and employment programs in China, Gaza the West Bank, Kenya, and in her home state of Georgia. Her vast experience includes serving as Director of the Program Department of the Clinton Global Initiative and then as advisor to the President and CEO of The Mastercard Foundation, a $9B global foundation working to advance youth learning and financial inclusion for African youth. Sass also serves on the Advisory Council of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights and on the board of the non-profit Global Give Back Circle. She has been recognized as a 2014 New York Business Journal “Women of Influence”, a 2015 Business Insider “23 most innovative and inspiring women in New York City Tech.” Sass has a BA in Ancient Philosophy from the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs) and a MA in International Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School from Tufts University.

Technology, Finance, Financial Inclusion, Inclusion, Empowerment, Women in Business, Female Leadership, Women's Empowerment, Equal Pay, Women's History Month, Business Founders, Business Leadership, Startup, Investing, Women in Tech Employee Recruitment, Future of Work, Innovation, Disruptive Thinking, Inventors,