Kevin Lo and Jennifer McFarlane Join Benetech Board of Directors

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - October 13, 2016) - Benetech, the leading nonprofit empowering communities in need by creating scalable technology solutions, today announced the appointment of Kevin Lo and Jennifer McFarlane to its Board of Directors. Lo and McFarlane join amid rapid expansion of Benetech's Global Literacy and Human Rights Programs in addition to increased investments in Benetech Labs to identify and scale the next big social impact technology.

"Technology has the power to drive large-scale and sustainable change," said Jim Fruchterman, founder and CEO of Benetech. "Kevin and Jennifer know how to harness Silicon Valley's technology and business models for good, and will reinforce Benetech's position as the bridge between Silicon Valley and the social sector."

With these appointments, the Benetech Board of Directors now consists of 12 members chaired by Christy Chin, partner at Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation. The Benetech Board leverages collective expertise and leadership from a broad spectrum of sectors including technology, business, capital markets and law.

View all Benetech board member profiles at http://www.benetech.org/about-us/who-we-are/.

Background on Kevin Lo

• Lo is the Director of Infrastructure Connectivity and Investments at Facebook. In this role, he is responsible for shaping Facebook's strategy and investments with partners to build wireless technologies and ecosystems that improve global connectivity.
• Prior to joining Facebook, Lo was the co-­founder and GM of Google Fiber. Lo led product, business and operations for Google Fiber, ­a television and gigabit internet service provider operating in nine U.S. metro markets. At Google, he also led a number of wireless initiatives including Google's partnership to provide Wi-Fi in U.S. Starbucks stores.
• A board member of several technology companies, Lo has an active interest in U.S. broadband policy and technology-­in-­education initiatives. He received his AB from Harvard University where he was a Harvard National Scholar.

Background on Jennifer McFarlane

• McFarlane has over 25 years of experience as an executive in finance, management and investment banking. She has held CFO positions at Zyomyx, LanzaTech, ClearSpot Energy and Southern Pacific Petroleum. She spent two years in the nonprofit sector as CEO of Astia, an accelerator for women-led, high-growth companies.
• McFarlane is a Board Member of BioGill, an Australian water technology company, an Advisory Board Member of PowWow Energy and a Board Member of the Pacific Institute based in California.
• McFarlane has an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering and a Law Degree from the University of New South Wales, Australia. She was awarded the Centenary Medal by the Prime Minister of Australia as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

About Benetech

Benetech is a different kind of tech company. We're a nonprofit whose mission is to empower communities in need by creating scalable technology solutions. Our work has transformed how over 425,000 people with disabilities read; made it safer for human rights defenders in over fifty countries to document human rights violations; and equipped environmental conservationists to protect ecosystems and species all over the world. Our Benetech Labs is working on the next big impact. Visit www.benetech.org.