Ella Gudwin

Biography

Ella Gudwin joined VisionSpring as president in 2015 to accelerate the uptake of eyeglasses in emerging and frontier markets for consumers earning less than $4 a day. Under her leadership, VisionSpring is working to sell 10 million pairs of radically affordable eyeglasses by 2021, creating the potential for $2.16 billion in global economic impact at the household level.

Ella is a social entrepreneur and strategist with more than 20 years of experience in global health and international development. Before coming to VisionSpring, she served as senior vice president of Strategy and Program Development at AmeriCares. In previous roles at the organization, she led humanitarian operations as vice president of Emergency Response, including for the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami and managed access to medicine and other health interventions in ten countries as Director of Asia and Eurasia Partnerships. Earlier in her career she served as head of Foreign Government Relations at the Population Council, focused on reproductive health, youth, and poverty.

She regularly speaks about hybrid business models which blend earned revenue with philanthropy; growing a purpose-driven business that serves low-income customers; and measuring social impact. Ella has shared views with audiences of NPR/PRI, The Skoll World Forum, SoCap, Fast Company, Duke University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, and the Clinton Global Initiative among others.

Ella’s early commitment to social justice and economic development issues took root while teaching in Indonesia during the 1997-1999 Asian financial crisis and the ensuing democracy movement. She earned a master’s degree with distinction in international economics at SAIS at Johns Hopkins University, and a bachelor’s with honors from Vassar College. Ella is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ella got her first pair of glasses in her mid-20s after getting headaches and eye strain while working on Excel spreadsheets. Like most of VisionSpring’s customers, Ella hadn’t realized just how blurry her vision had become and how unnecessarily long she had been coping without glasses.