Ory Okolloh


Ory Okolloh ''' is a Kenyan activist, lawyer, and blogger. She is Director of Investments at Omidyar Network. She was formerly the Policy Manager for Africa with Google.

Early life

She earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh and graduated from Harvard Law School in 2005.

Career

In 2006 she co-founded the parliamentary watchdog site Mzalendo. The site sought to increase government accountability by systematically recording bills, speeches, MPs, standing orders, etc.
When Kenya was engulfed in violence following a disputed presidential election in 2007, Okolloh helped create Ushahidi, a website that collected and recorded eyewitness reports of violence using text messages and Google Maps. The technology has since been adapted for other purposes and used in a number of other countries.
Okolloh has a personal blog, Kenyan Pundit, which was featured on Global Voices Online.
She has worked as a legal consultant for NGOs and has worked at Covington and Burling, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and the World Bank.
Okolloh was appointed on the Board of Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company, the body that acts as a guardian of the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles in May 2015.