Lindsay Coates is an expert in advocacy for effective development in both the government and international institutions. Combining her legal background in civil rights and deep expertise in the social sector, Lindsay focuses on citizen engagement, social accountability and locally led development.
Lindsay is a Senior Advisor to the B Corp Geneva Global and an advisor to the RINGO Project (Re-Imaging the INGO) housed at the West African Civil Society Institute. Lindsay participates in the World Bank Working Group on Citizen Engagement and the International Financial Institutions Working Group focused on the US Government. As a volunteer with the social impact organization Rippleworks, Lindsay provides practical support to social entrepreneurs to scale their projects and improve more lives.
While managing director of the BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative, Lindsay led the advocacy agenda to leave no one behind though using effective, innovative and multi-dimensional solutions. She was responsible for learning and technical assistance activities in 10+ countries in Africa and South Asia. Before joining BRAC, Lindsay was the president of InterAction, a coalition of NGOs working to address poverty and injustice. Lindsay has served on numerous boards and leadership initiatives that address pressing global challenges. These include the steering committees of the World Bank Global Partnership for Social Accountability and the World Bank Partnership for Economic Inclusion, the Leadership Circle of Foreign Policy for American, the executive committee for the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, and the boards of Episcopal Relief and Development, United States Global Leadership Coalition, Development Gateway and Results for Development. She also served on the Obama administration’s Task Force on Global Poverty.
Prior to her work in the nonprofit sector, Lindsay practiced civil rights law in various capacities beginning with her law practice in Mississippi. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of the South (Sewanee) and the University of Mississippi School of Law.
