Teresa H. Clarke is the chairman and CEO of Africa.com LLC. She launched the company in 2010 after resigning from her position as a managing director in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs & Co. At Goldman Sachs & Co, Clarke led mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions for Fortune 500 companies in the US and in Europe. She also led the Goldman Sachs Africa-Aspen Program, a leadership development project for emerging public- and private-sector African leaders. Clarke lived in South Africa from 1995–2000, during which time she taught corporate finance in the MBA program at Wits Business School and served on the investment committee of a private equity fund that invested in the Southern Africa region. A desire to help fill the leadership pipeline in South Africa led Clarke to cofound the Student Sponsorship Programme, which provides academically talented but economically disadvantaged South African students with career mentors and scholarships to attend private schools. She has received numerous awards, including one from the government of South Africa for her work with South Africa’s children. She has been featured on television, including a documentary by Carol Pineau, “Africa Investment Horizons,” and was honored in 2010 on BET’s “Black Girls Rock.” Clarke was named one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Business in 2011 by the Network Journal.

Clarke received a bachelor’s degree in economics, cum laude, from Harvard College, an MBA from Harvard Business School and a JD from Harvard Law School.