The Research & Evaluation Centre

Senior Research Associate (part-time contract basis)   2025 - present

Serve as senior advisor and reviewer for systematic review and evaluation research on public policy and global development topics conducted for government and philanthropic funders. Served as reviewer from draft protocol through draft report for systematic review, "Impact of large-scale cash transfers in low- and lower-middle-income countries -- Poverty and climate resilience: A systematic review." 

FHI 360

Chief Strategy and Evidence Officer 2023 - 2025

Served on executive team and as management liaison to the program impact committee of the FHI 360 board. Led corporate strategy development and guided strategy implementation. Headed the Strategy, Innovation and Evidence office, with an annual budget of $1.7m and six staff plus several interns. Supervised implementation of FHI 360's innovation architecture. Supervised measurement, data, evaluation and evidence functions, designed to: ● help FHI 360 grow as a learning organization ● support data-driven performance management and ● promote evidence-based programing, research and advocacy. Led the development and launch of FHI 360's Sustainable Impact Framework, a strategic framework based on theory, evidence, and best practice to guide FHI 360's work to produce outcomes sustainable after program completion. Supervised the design and data population of FHI 360's interactive Leadership Business Dashboard, based on balanced scorecard principles, to support data-driven decision making.

Head of Strategy and Principal Economist 2022 - 2023

Directed the Strategy & Innovation team. Led the development of a new, transformational corporate strategy focused on addressing big global challenges. Designed the strategy development processes to maximize staff participation given a limited time period for strategy development. Strategy development included the determination of FHI 360's Principles of Locally Led development, which were identified and selected through global staff engagement, including workshops and crowdsourcing. Led the development of FHI 360's Innovation Architecture to promote and support a global culture of innovation. Directed corporate innovation and locally led development initiatives, including a knowledge platform and internal and external speaker series for staff learning. Informed and facilitated decision making on investment and growth priorities. Aligned strategic planning with organizational development initiatives.

   This position also included the responsibilities described for Principal Economist below.

Principal Economist 2018 - 2023

Served as FHI 360's chief economist and directed the Evidence Unit, housed in the Chief Science Office and then subsumed under the Strategy, Innovation, and Evidence Office, which promoted FHI 360 thought leadership and built the organizational culture for evidence generation and use across all sectors and regions. Also served as the technical director for FHI 360’s social impact reporting initiative. Supported strategy and operational efforts as a member of FHI 360's Expanded Leadership Forum and contributed to cross-organizational business development efforts as a member of Bid Board. Management member of the FHI 360 Board of Directors' Program Impact Committee. Editor-in-Chief for the R&E Search for Evidence blog. Directed, conducted, and quality assured research.

Director, Research and Evaluation Strategic Initiative 2016 - 2019

Led the three-year Research and Evaluation Strategic Initiative funded by the FHI Foundation. For this company-wide initiative, conducted strategic planning and developed and supervised activities to fulfill strategic objectives. Promoted increased collaboration across business units in the company, particularly for research and evaluation activities. Designed and supervised internal grant-making processes and internal and external knowledge sharing and communications tools, including global all-staff research celebration events and the @fhi360research Twitter account. Established and served as Editor-in-Chief for the FHI 360 Research and Evaluation Search for Evidence public blog. Initiated and supervised a research seminar series with external presenters to promote staff learning and evidence use. Quality assured research and evaluation products. Conducted research and spoke publicly.

University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy

Lecturer 2021

Designed the curriculum for and taught Global Health Policy course in the Master of Public Policy program.

International Initiative for Impact Evaluation

Deputy Director and Head, Washington Office  2012 - 2016

As one of four deputies to the executive director, headed 3ie’s Washington, DC office, including 12 staff plus interns and consultants, with an annual budget of US$10 million. Responsible for all legal and administrative aspects of establishing and maintaining that office. Served on 3ie's executive team, liaised directly with 3ie's Board of Commissioners (including as senior management coordinator of the Governance Committee), and actively contributed to all strategy and organizational development initiatives.

Designed and directed multiple evidence-production and global public goods programs, including impact evaluation grants windows, impact evaluation registry and repository, replication research, 3ie membership, and various professional services contracts and research projects. Liaised with and provided capacity development services to government agencies and policy makers in high-, middle-, and low-income countries on evidence-based policy making. Conducted fundraising. Supervised and conducted research and conducted public speaking. Research topics included youth and transferable skills, peacebuilding, governance, HIV prevention and treatment, implementation science, and internal replication. Country experience included China, Colombia, Ecuador, Fiji, India, Kenya, Malawi, Peru, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zambia.

Chief Evaluation Officer 2010 - 2012

Headed 3ie’s evaluation office, which at the time was responsible for grant-making programs and ensuring the quality of all impact evaluations (several dozen) funded by 3ie. Redesigned procedures and forms for 3ie's Open Window grants program. Supervised evaluation specialists, grants administrators, and consultants. Responsible for grants decision-making and managed communications with grantees, primarily university-based researchers.

Chemonics International

Director  2007 - 2010

Directed projects, led proposal design and writing, and provided technical assistance for USAID-funded programs. As Department Director for the Knowledge and Innovation Department, supervised Chemonics’ impact measurement program, its ten technical communities of practice, its applied research program, and support for project innovation processes. Supervised 12-15 home office, part-time and full-time staff and established an internship program. Chaired the AIMS working group, which developed Chemonics’ corporate standards of project excellence and the firm’s assessment tool and indicator for monitoring projects’ performance in Achieving, Innovating, Measuring, and Sharing. Responsible for developing and implementing impact measurement methodologies across practices and regions. Research advisor for Knowledge and Innovation Department (KID) research rotations and for other research activities in the firm. Country experience included Antigua, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Morocco, Philippines, Yemen, and Zambia.

Urban Institute

Center Director, International Activities Center 2005 - 2007

As the Center Director (equivalent to Vice President), directed the International Activities Center (IAC), which earned $25-30M in annual revenue and employed 45 full-time employees on average as well as dozens of international consultants and hundreds of host-country employees and consultants. Ultimate responsibility for over 40 active projects in more than 20 different countries in all developing regions of the world. Designed and implemented an organizational restructuring of the center and developed and instituted financial and human resources policies specific to international development contracts. IAC technical expertise included local governance, performance budgeting and management, intergovernmental finance, citizen participation and civil society engagement, think tank development, local economic development, housing markets and policy, municipal finance, housing finance and microfinance, evaluation and assessment, government asset management, and water and utilities service provision. Country experience included Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Pakistan, Russia, and Serbia.

BearingPoint, Inc. (now part of Deloitte)

Senior Manager 2003 - 2005

Manager 2001 - 2003

Senior Associate 1999 - 2001

Responsibilities included in-country technical assistance, project management, business development, and economic research. Technical areas included micro and macro-economics, poverty reduction strategies, performance monitoring and evaluation, tax policy analysis, tax revenue estimation, economic modeling, think tank development, policy analysis training, and database development. Established and directed the division’s performance management and evaluation unit. Country experience included Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Resident Advisor 2002 - 2003

As part of the USAID-funded Tax and Fiscal Reform project, posted long-term in the Republic of Armenia and served as an advisor to the Ministry of Finance. Hired and supervised a team of three economists to conduct policy analysis and advise the Ministry. Also, awarded grants to and mentored two Armenian research NGOs. Served as the Executive Editor for Economic Policy and Poverty, an Armenian periodical.

Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics

Research Associate (in residence during summers) 1996 - 1999

Co-principal investigator for large grant funded research project titled “Competition, Reallocation and Industrial Evolution, advances in the economics of industrial organization using economy wide panel data on firms in Russia".

Western Michigan University

Assistant Professor, Department of Economics 1996 - 1999

Courses taught included: Ph.D. field course in industrial organization; undergraduate courses in labor economics, international economics, and micro-economics; senior seminar in comparative economics-the designated writing course for the department; and an undergraduate/graduate transition economics speaker series course. Research themes included: multi-year project on industrial structure and competition in Russia (details under Stockholm Institute below); managerial labor markets in Romania; internal labor migration in Russia; and when is transition over.

University of Michigan

National Science Foundation Fellow and Michigan Regents Fellow in Graduate Studies  1989 - 1996

Studied for my doctorate in economics and masters in Russian and East European Studies. Completed dissertation titled "Issues for Economic Transition in Russia, Industrial Structure, Worker Share Ownership, and Internal Migration." Participated as the economist in a large multi-disciplinary research project on Estonia and produced two papers on Estonian economic transition.  

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank)

Research Team Member, 1996 World Development Report 1995 - 1996

Research Team Member for the 1996 World Development Report: From Plan to Market. Topical responsibilities included poverty, inequality, labor markets, education, and gender issues. Tasks included research and writing.

Research Assistant, Socialist Economies Reform Unit 1992 - 1993

Conducted research for two Enterprise Behavior and Reform survey projects for Russia. Project topics for the surveys included the effects of privatization and market infrastructure on competition. Served on mission team to Armenia and assisting in writing an Armenia Country Report. Researched market structure and provided policy advice on competition to World Bank economists for Russia.

The Brookings Institution

Research Assistant, Economic Studies Program 1988 - 1989

Provided economics research assistance to Dr. Charles L. Schulze.