Rishi Jaitly

Rishi S. Jaitly joined Knight Foundation in 2011. He directs Knight’s grant making in Detroit.

Previously, Jaitly co-founded and led Michigan Corps, a social network of Michiganders committed to change in their home state. He continues to be the volunteer chairman of the board.

Prior to founding Michigan Corps, Jaitly worked as director of strategic partnerships and public policy at College Summit Inc., America’s leading non-profit organization increasing the college enrollment rate of lower-income high schools. He also was head of government affairs and public-private partnerships for Google in South Asia; he began his tenure with the company in Silicon Valley where he supported communications for Google’s CEO and led Google.org’s product partnerships with the United Nations. In Asia, he successfully convinced the government of Pakistan to end its nationwide block of Blogger and YouTube (2008, 2009) and the government of Bangladesh to end its nationwide block of YouTube (2009). In India, he led the development of a Google product that informed and engaged voters by showcasing critical governance data during the 2009 general election.

Jaitly, a former member of Princeton University’s Board of Trustees and Commissioner of Higher Education in New Jersey, has a bachelor of arts degree in history from Princeton.