As we approach the close of this year, it seems like a fitting time to share news of another “seasonal” transition. After some 20 years of strong leadership and thoughtful contributions, Chris Page will be retiring from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

Throughout his time at RPA, Chris has helped countless organizations and individuals. His commitment to transparency, trust, and sound decision-making built relationships with our clients and partners that opened the door to impact around the world.

His tenure will leave a lasting legacy at RPA. Chris joined our team before RPA was an independent organization and his contributions made a significant impact on RPA’s development initially and throughout the years. As the CEO of a social enterprise and as a Ford Foundation program officer, he brought a remarkable range of expertise to our strategies, programs and culture. If you have had the pleasure of working with Chris, you are surely familiar with the knowledge, empathy, thoughtfulness and good humor he brings to his work every day.

His expertise in the area of financial inclusion in particular contributed to what has become one of RPA’s most extensive portfolios of work around the world. Chris spearheaded many projects in this area, having brought RPA expertise from his previous role in Economic Development at the Ford Foundation. Our first financial inclusion project, Gateway Financial Innovations for Saving (GAFIS), perfectly illustrates his unrelenting dedication to the cause; this Gates Foundation project originally set a goal to create 500,000 new savings accounts for the unbanked, but eventually extended services to approximately 900,000 people. Other projects he led highlight the breadth of his financial inclusion expertise: shaping the Catalyst Fund’s innovative approach to fin-tech; incubating Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI) until it spun off into an independent South African organization offering online certificates in digital money; and collaborating with Gallup to broaden the knowledge base globally on financial security.

Chris helped shape Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors into the organization it has become and his presence will be missed by many–myself included. Please join all of us in congratulating Chris on a well-deserved retirement! We wish him luck as he embarks on this exciting new phase in his life.

In years to come, we will continue to seek inspiration in Chris’ dedication to his fundamental beliefs “that flawed systems can be remedied; that chronic problems should not persist only because the people closest lack resources to correct them; and that better ways are found when diverse groups share their contextual intelligence.”