Avnish leads the organization’s overall strategy as well as the team that develops and advances its scaling pathways through partnerships with aid institutions and networks of government leaders. Before founding Instiglio in 2012, he worked at MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and at the World Bank. Avnish holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, a diploma in Performance Management for Nonprofit Organizations from Harvard Business School, and a bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from Dartmouth College.

Avnish was awarded the Echoing Green Fellowship and named one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” social entrepreneurs for his work with Instiglio. He was also a Visiting Fellow of Practice at Oxford University’s Government Outcomes Lab and has been a keynote speaker alongside Nobel laureates Michael Kremer and Joseph Stiglitz. He is a board member of Labor Mobility Partnerships, an instructor at Philanthropy U, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development.