After earning a PhD in Social and Clinical Psychology from Clark University, Charlie became Director of Behavioral Medicine for The California School of Professional Psychology, Fresno (CSPP-F), where he was a full-time professor and founder of a teaching clinic for treating anxiety & stress disorders. He was recruited to The Men’s Wearhouse where he became head of human resources, stores, and marketing and ultimately President. He stepped down in order to fulfill his long-standing desire to work directly on social and economic issues.

In 2013, Charlie became volunteer Executive Director of The Life You Can Save, a non-profit dedicated to reducing extreme poverty and its devastating effects on over 700 million people globally. Through his financial support and leadership, Charlie has helped TLYCS’s Founder, Peter Singer, develop the organization from the ground up. In February, 2021, Charlie stepped down as Executive Director, but remains an active major donor, and Board member with a focus on fundraising, marketing communications and strategy.

Charlie lives in Washington State with his wife Diana, a family physician, who partners in supporting The Life You Can Save. He welcomes discussion and questions at charlie@thelifeyoucansave.org.

Rickard Vikstrom is the Executive Director of The Life You Can Save and Board Member of The Life You Can Save Australia.

Rickard’s journey with The Life You Can Save commenced back in 2009 when — while working as Fundraising Manager at UNICEF Australia — he was introduced to Peter Singer’s then newly-released book The Life You Can Save. The book, with its thought-provoking ideas, well-structured arguments and tangible examples, quickly became Rickard’s go-to tool for inspiring people to help end extreme poverty. Nine years later, he officially joined The Life You Can Save as a volunteer but quickly transitioned into a full-time staff position, leading the organization’s work on fundraising and partnerships. He was promoted to Managing Director in 2020 and to Executive Director in 2021.

Rickard holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Technology Sydney. His work experience spans global organizations and includes roles with the United Nations in Switzerland, India and Thailand as well as consulting assignments for a number of well-regarded nonprofits in Australia including The Fred Hollows Foundation, The Heart Research Institute and Canteen.

Rickard is a citizen of Sweden and Australia and is currently based in Sydney.

Bilal leads in-house research and helps set strategy for charity selection, fundraising, and partnerships. He is currently developing our internal charity evaluation framework, overseeing due diligence of recommended charities, helping identify new priority cause areas, and building collaborations with the wider EA ecosystem.

Bilal comes to The Life You Can Save via the Center for Effective Global Action at UC Berkeley, where he served as Director of Research and continues to play an advisory role, and the World Bank’s research department, where he worked with governments to embed impact evaluation in their operations. He brings with him nearly two decades of primary research experience in using experimental methods to identify effective responses to poverty and conflict in low- and middle-income countries. His work has been published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Science, and Lancet, among others, and covered in the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, CBS, and several other press outlets. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.