Mario Stephan

Mario Stephan is Director of Philanthropic Partnerships at the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), based in Geneva, a position he has held since January 2026. Prior to this appointment, he served as Head of Philanthropy Diversification and Impact at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), where he led MSF's Web3 strategy from Geneva. In that role, he developed MSF's approach to blockchain philanthropy, encompassing crypto, NFTs, and digital art. He was directly responsible for launching Stake2Care, MSF's first liquid staking program on Ethereum, which allows donors to stake cryptocurrency and direct a portion of the generated rewards to MSF while retaining their capital. He was also preparing a subsequent initiative called Art4Care, focused on digital art. He previously served as Executive Director of MSF's UAE regional office from 2018 to 2022, and before that founded Arabian Perspectives, a consultancy providing expertise on the Arab World to the relief and development sectors.

Stephan brings over 20 years of experience in the aid and relief sector, with field and leadership roles across the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Afghanistan, Somalia, Egypt, the UAE, and Switzerland. He has held regional responsibilities covering eastern and southern Africa, the MENA region, and the Gulf. Since 2013, he has taken on governance roles across various organisations, including serving as a trustee on the board of Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa. He speaks Arabic, English, French, and Spanish. He holds a Master's degree in Management and Business Administration from KEDGE Business School (Bordeaux, France), a professional trainer accreditation from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (London), and a Senior Practitioner-level mentor accreditation from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.