Kurt Dassel is a seasoned strategist, advisor, and thought leader with more than two decades of experience helping nonprofits, governments, social enterprises and corporations tackle the world's most pressing challenges. His work spans economic competitiveness, impact investing, environmental sustainability, and inclusive growth — bringing intellectual rigor and pragmatic execution to every engagement.

Currently, Kurt is the Founder and Principal of Dassel Advisors, where he consults to clients on strategy, economic development, and impact investing. He also serves as a Founding Board Member of PollyLabs, a New York-based organization focused on research and thought leadership at the intersection of policy and innovation, where he advises on strategy, governance, investment thesis, and core research directions.

Most recently, Kurt served as a Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting, where over more than a decade he led 50+ client engagements across the public, private, and social sectors. His portfolio included pay-for-results agriculture programs, climate finance strategy for bilateral donors and international financial institutions, and growth strategy coaching for social enterprises in emerging markets. He also established and led the Strategy Office for Deloitte's Government and Public Sector business.

Prior to Deloitte, Kurt spent over a decade at Monitor Group — rising from project manager to elected Partner — where he helped incubate and grow the firm's Economic Competitiveness and Innovation practice. He led national and regional competitiveness engagements across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and North America, and helped build Monitor's Development and Security unit into the firm's second-largest business.

Earlier in his career, Kurt was an accomplished academic. He held a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Harvard University's John M. Olin Institute for National Security, taught at Harvard and Wellesley College, and published on international relations and civil-military dynamics in journals including International Security and the American Journal of Political Science.

Kurt holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University and a B.A. in Political Economy of Industrial Societies from the University of California, Berkeley.