Mayur Patel joined Knight Foundation in 2009. As vice president of strategy and assessment, he is responsible for aiding ongoing strategy development, strengthening research and knowledge management capabilities and assessing the impact and effectiveness of the foundation’s efforts.

Patel was previously a project associate with the Global Economic Governance Programme at the University of Oxford, involved in research on international institutions and economic affairs, and a fellow with the World Trade Organization in Geneva. He has served as a consultant to Oxfam's offices in Kenya and the UK, and as a trade and investment policy adviser to Realizing Rights, an NGO based in New York. He has previously worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Zimbabwe, his home country, on issues of civic engagement and parliamentary support.

A Rhodes Scholar, Patel has a doctorate in international development from the University of Oxford, from which he also earned a master’s degree. Prior to attending Oxford, he was awarded a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the London School of Economics (LSE). He is a Junior Fellow with the EVA Business and Policy Forum based in Helsinki and a recipient of a Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Award. Recently, Patel was named a 2011 Independent Sector American Express NGEN Fellow and one of '30 Under 30 Civic Leaders' by Splashlife Magazine and the National Council on Citizenship.