Joe Waters

Co-Founder + CEO of Capita

Joe Waters is the co-founder and CEO of Capita. An independent, nonpartisan think tank with a global focus, Capita works to build a future in which children and families can realize their full potential in a just, peaceful, prosperous society on a healthier, cleaner, and safer planet.

Since starting Capita in 2018, Joe has developed forward-leaning initiatives exploring how the great cultural, planetary, and social transformations of our day affect our youngest children (0-8 years old) and our communities. From the impacts of climate change to parental loneliness and social disconnection, and economic precarity, Capita’s work catalyzes creative new ideas and solutions to some of the most pressing global challenges impacting families.

A 2021 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow, Joe’s commentary on issues facing families has been published by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Investor’s Business Daily, The Hill, Newsweek, Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Charlotte Observer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nonprofit Quarterly, Early Learning Nation, and other outlets. He has been an invited speaker at the White House’s first forum on social impact finance, the Aspen Forum on Children and Families, the Lego Idea Conference, Think Future, and the World Forum on Early Care and Education.

Joe is a board member of Book Harvest and the Felician Center in Kingstree, South Carolina. He graduated from Furman University (BA, history) and earned a master’s degree in divinity from Duke University.

Joe also serves as a Senior Advisor at Openfields, a Greenville, South Carolina-based consulting firm. Prior to Capita, he worked at the Institute for Child Success, a not for profit research and policy organization, where he led their work on impact investing that, amongst other things, successfully created and implemented a new range of high impact tools that focused on improving outcomes for young children and their families.

He and his wife, Molly Benedum, a family physician, live with their son Albert and daughter Frances in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

Please connect with Joe on LinkedIn or by emailing him directly.