Runa is the Co-Founder and CEO of Development Partners International and has more than 35 years of private equity, emerging market management and investment banking experience, including 22 years in Africa. She serves and has served on the boards of many African companies including Eaton Towers, Letshego, and Food Concepts. She chaired the African Private Equity Association (AVCA) for five years and serves as Vice Chair and Africa council member for the Global Private Capital Association.

Runa sits on the board of CARE, the international humanitarian relief agency, and on a Future Challenge Committee of the World Economic Forum on Investing with UN Sustainable Development Goals, as well as Advisory Committees at Princeton and Yale universities.

A development economist who graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Business School, Runa is a Harry S. Truman Congressional Scholar. She began her career on Wall Street with Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch.