Rachel Payne.

is a technology executive, entrepreneur, investor, inventor and philanthropist.

Throughout her career, Rachel has focused on opportunities to utilize technology to create a positive impact for people and the planet. Rachel is Managing Director, Head of Innovation and Technology at FullCycle, a private equity fund that invests in climate infrastructure. She is Founder of The Tree Pledge, a social movement focused on empowering communities to take action on climate by planting and protecting 1 trillion trees globally. Rachel teaches “Emerging Technology and Social Impact” at U.C. Berkeley and mentors with Techstars and UC Berkeley Blockchain Xcelerator.

After earning her Stanford MBA, Rachel joined the founding team of Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, focused on Poverty Alleviation and Climate Change, creating the blueprint for a hybrid corporate philanthropy and investment fund. While at Google, Rachel led International Business Operations in Emerging Markets, living and working in sub-Saharan Africa as Country Manager, Africa Leadership Team, building the foundation for an Internet Economy. She focused on infrastructure, localization, strategic partnerships, and public policy to ensure broad-based participation in the opportunities created by mobile phones and emerging technologies. Her team’s work was awarded “Best Mobile Apps for Economic and Social Development” in 2010 at Mobile World Congress.

She was also Principal, Global Strategic Alliances, managing Google’s important strategic partnerships in Media & Entertainment. In 2012, Rachel left Google to start FEM Inc., a mission-driven holding company. In 2015, FEM Inc. launched Prizma, an AI venture serving media, telecom and tech companies. Prizma was acquired by Nielsen / Gracenote in 2018.

Rachel has served on the Board of Directors for BRAC USA (ranked #1 NGO), CREDO Mobile, KCET and dashboard.earth.