Tom Kruse is program director for the global challenges portion of the Democratic Practice program of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. He joined the Fund in June 2008 to manage the development and direction of the global governance grantmaking, including the formation of the program objectives, strategies, and initiatives.
Prior to joining the Fund, Mr. Kruse served as an advisor to the Bolivian government on trade and investment policy, the continuation of trade preference programs, and debt relief. In that capacity, Mr. Kruse worked closely with the Bolivian government and its diplomatic missions, members of the Bolivian business community, international financial institutions, and several RBF grantees that provide technical assistance to developing country governments.
His career in Bolivia began in 1994 when he served as director of the School for International Training's programs in Bolivia, and as a consultant on geographic information systems for the Center of Population Studies. Mr. Kruse later led research teams on labor conditions in formal and informal sector shoe and apparel industries, and co-founded a labor education project that organized and carried out courses of study linked to organizing drives. Subsequently, he served as program director at a prominent research and policy advocacy organization that served as the Bolivia chapter of the Social Watch global network. In that position, he introduced and consolidated macroeconomic analysis on the fiscal limits of poverty reduction spending; and contributed to the consolidation of citizens and social organization coalitions on debt and development finance, and fair trade and investment.
Mr. Kruse holds a Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Arizona.