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Protecting the Mission
While many of Dalberg’s businesses are for-profit social enterprises, Dalberg’s brand sits in a not-for-profit trust.
The primary purpose of the Dalberg Trust is to act as the custodian of the Dalberg brand, ensuring the organization’s focus on impact and innovation. Established in 2013, the Trust’s mandate includes protecting and managing the brand, promoting innovation, and safeguarding the mission, vision, and values of Dalberg against future risks of prioritizing profit over impact. The primary purposes of the Dalberg Trust are:
- To hold, manage, develop, improve, promote, and protect all intellectual property rights in the Dalberg brand (including, where applicable, registering Dalberg trademarks and other relevant actions).
- To promote international development through:
- Licensing the use of the Dalberg brand to entities engaged in activities aimed at promoting international development consistent with the Mission and Values, and
- Generating and identifying new ideas for promoting international development and facilitating their implementation through the creation of new entities and the provision of advice, services, and financial support to such entities.
The Dalberg Trust’s work is structured around three distinct tasks:
- Administering the Brand: Ensure that our shared identity is protected, well-managed, and aligned with our mission. We register and maintain global trademarks, issue brand licenses, and support governance processes around brand use and integrity. We facilitate collaboration across entities, ensure compliance with brand agreements, and safeguard the values that define Dalberg. At its core, brand administration helps keep our businesses mission-aligned while enabling innovation and sustainable growth across the platform.
- Protecting the Brand: Ensure that all Dalberg entities comply with the agreed terms and conditions, including key aspects of operationalizing our brand. This work also involves registering and renewing global trademarks, as well as expanding the Dalberg Group—either by launching innovative, high-impact ventures or by integrating values-aligned businesses. Additionally, it includes ongoing support to existing Dalberg entities.
- Brand Amplification: Expand the influence and recognition of the Dalberg brand. While brand administration focuses on governance and protection ensures integrity, amplification is about using the brand to inspire trust, attract opportunity, and drive mission-aligned growth. This includes working with internal and external partners to shape thought leadership, develop impact narratives, and support new initiatives that reflect and reinforce Dalberg’s values. By doing so, we help position the brand as a driver of innovation and impact in the global development space.
The Dalberg Trust is governed by its Bylaws and a Board of Trustees who are responsible for ensuring that the Trust and each business bearing the Dalberg brand maintains a commitment to excellence in pursuit of inclusive growth and sustainable development.
The Dalberg Trust Board provides strategic leadership and oversight to ensure the Trust fulfills its mission and safeguards the Dalberg brand. Its core responsibilities include:
- Stewarding Mission and Strategy – Overseeing the Dalberg Trust’s mission, vision, and strategic direction, including governance, financial performance, and long-term objectives.
- Safeguarding and Managing the Brand – Ensuring responsible use of the Dalberg brand, including brand licensing, trademark protection, and brand integrity across all entities.
- Advancing Innovation and Impact – Supporting initiatives that amplify Dalberg’s impact, including enabling new mission-aligned ventures and promoting the brand’s contribution to sustainable and inclusive development.
The Trust Board is supported by the Trust Secretariat, which manages the day-to-day operations of the Trust.
Simon Winter, Board Chair
Dr. Winter is the Director of the Sustainable Agriculture Foundations’ International Association (SAFIA), based in Basel, Switzerland — a platform he established in 2024 to support the legacy country organizations spun out of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA).
Dr. Winter was Executive Director of SFSA from 2017 to 2024, where he led the organization through a period of significant growth, increasing support to pre-commercial smallholder farmers fivefold. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President for Development at TechnoServe, having previously led the organization’s operations across sub-Saharan Africa. From 2015 to 2017, he also held a Senior Fellowship at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Beyond his role as Chair of the Dalberg Trust Board, Dr. Winter holds a range of governance and advisory positions, including with the Scaling Community of Practice, Africa College Foundation, Griffith Foods’ Sustainability Advisory Council, TechnoServe South Africa, and the World Economic Forum’s food and agriculture initiatives. His previous board roles include Chair of ACRE Africa and the Farm to Market Alliance, plus board memberships with Root Capital and the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Winter held management roles at McKinsey & Company, worked in development consulting and economic planning in Botswana, and held international positions with Barclays Bank.
A dual UK and German citizen, Dr. Winter holds a PhD in Economics from SOAS, University of London.
Jennifer Blanke, Board Member
Dr. Blanke is an expert on economic growth and development finance who serves on the boards of various development and impact investment focused entities. She was previously Vice President Agriculture, Human and Social Development at the African Development Bank Group, responsible for overseeing the Bank’s strategy, lending and other activities in this area.
Prior to that, Dr. Blanke was Chief Economist at the World Economic Forum, overseeing economic research and risk-related activities. Before joining the World Economic Forum, she worked as a management consultant for Eurogroup Consulting in Paris, France, where she specialized in banking and financial-market organization.
Dr. Blanke has written and lectured extensively on issues related to national competitiveness and economic development. She holds a master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, New York, and an MA and PhD in International Economics from the Geneva Graduate Institute. She was until 2019 a member of the Canadian Government’s Council of Economic Growth.
Yvonne Pinto, Board Member
Yvonne Pinto is a globally recognized leader in agricultural innovation, food security, and research systems strengthening. She currently serves as Director General of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), where she leads strategic research to improve global food systems and sustainable rice production.
Yvonne holds a BSc in Plant Sciences and Agriculture from the University of Reading, an MSc in Biotechnology, and a PhD in Virology from Imperial College London. She also completed Executive Education in General Management at Cambridge University.
Her career spans roles with leading global institutions, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, IDRC, AfDB, Gatsby Charitable Foundation, DFID, FAO, IFAD, the World Bank, and various NGOs, farmer organizations, and private-sector actors like GSMA. She also founded and led a professional services firm focused on measuring the impact of innovation in health, agriculture, and education, helping organizations understand and improve the effectiveness of their work in these sectors.
Yvonne is widely respected for her technical expertise in agriculture and research innovation, strong governance experience, and her sustained focus on delivering sustainable development impact.
Henrik Skovby, Board Member and Founder and Chairman, Dalberg Group
Henrik Skovby is the former Global Managing Partner and founder of Dalberg. In his current capacity as Executive Chairman of Dalberg Group, most of Henrik’s time is dedicated to industry innovation and establishing new business lines under the Dalberg brand. As a strategy consultant, Henrik has specialized in corporate strategy and organizational reforms. He has led a series of institutional reviews in the development sector and has been involved in launching several global commissions and thought-leadership initiatives.
Prior to Dalberg, Henrik worked at McKinsey & Company, where his focus was financial and public institutions. He began his professional career at the United Nations Development Program, where he worked on project management, budget matters, and strategic positioning of the organization.
Henrik holds a Master’s of Public Administration degree from Harvard University, a degree in Business Economics from Copenhagen Business School, and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Aarhus.