NATHAN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Head of Operations and Compliance ( UK )
Job Titles:
- Chief of Party for the US Support
- Vice President of Economic Engagement
- Vice President, Economic Engagement and Private Sector Development ( US )
Ann Katsiak is Vice President of Economic Engagement and Private Sector Development in the International Development team. She is an experienced Chief of Party and senior manager with more than 17 years of experience across regional trade, trade facilitation, women's economic empowerment and digital economy issues. She has led efforts across Nathan's portfolio to develop multi-stakeholder partnerships and lead policy discussions on issues related to private sector engagement, inclusion and digital transformation. As Vice President of Economic Engagement and Private Sector Development, she oversees a portfolio of more than 90 million.
Ms. Katsiak also serves as Chief of Party for the US Support to Economic Growth in Asia (US-SEGA) Project, one of Nathan's largest USAID programs. For that program, she works closely with a range of government and private sector partners to develop policy programs related to regional trade and investment issues across APEC's 21-member APEC economies to design and deliver a range of technical assistance across the region. She also oversees multifaceted efforts to support USAID missions across the Indo-Pacific region on economic growth and trade issues, including workforce development, digital economy and cybersecurity, and private sector engagement.
Buddhika Samarasinghe specializes in private sector development, agriculture and rural development, and financial inclusion. A practicing economist since 1995, he applies his expertise to designing, managing and reviewing market systems programs-including the making markets work for the poor approach, challenge funds, and value chain development. He also brings a deep understanding of monitoring and evaluation as well as political economy analysis into the programs he directs for Nathan. His recent projects include activities in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Eastern and Central Europe.
Trusted for highly practical and technically innovative approaches to implementing projects, Mr. Samarasinghe has built lasting relationships with UK Department for International Development, the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank, European Union, and World Bank.
His work extends to private donors and foundations: he advises on MasterCard Foundation's challenge fund for Africa, the $50 million Fund or Rural Prosperity, which he helped design and implement. He advises on the board of a number of other funds including UNCDF's SHIFT financial inclusion fund for the Mekong region, and an impact investment fund called Prospero in Zambia.
Before joining Nathan in 1999, Mr. Samarasinghe advised governments and donor organizations and worked for research institutes and corporate clients.
Job Titles:
- Principal Associate ( US )
Caroline Rubin is a Principal Associate in the Economic Engagement and Private Sector Development practice at Nathan. Ms. Rubin has served in a range of technical and management positions, including as Chief of Party of Nathan's $12 million ASEAN-USAID Inclusive Growth in ASEAN through Innovation, Trade, and E-Commerce (IGNITE) project, where she oversaw all technical and operational aspects of the project based in Indonesia. Ms. Rubin's work has focused on supporting regional organizations including ASEAN and APEC as well as individual economies in a range of technical issues including women's economic empowerment and gender inclusion, regional economic integration, trade and investment, and digital economy. In her current role, she provides technical expertise and oversight across several complex bilateral and regional development projects. Ms. Rubin holds a Bachelor's degree in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland and a Master in Public Policy degree from Georgetown University.
Job Titles:
- Investment Practice Lead ( UK )
Christina Clark-Lowes is the Investment Practice Lead at Nathan's London office specialized in investment, private sector development, investment promotion, market systems development (MSD) and SME support. For more than a decade, Ms. Clark-Lowes has been providing strategic and technical support to economic growth projects throughout their project cycle, ranging from design to implementation and evaluation.
Amongst others, Ms. Clark-Lowes is the Investment Lead of the Invest Salone project in Sierra Leone, where she is overseeing the implementation of all investment-related interventions. These include the structuring of Sierra Leone's first-ever corporate bond working together with the Bank of Sierra Leone, design of an innovative first-loss-guaranteed working capital facility, design of a Climate Finance investment promotion activity as well as continued impact investor outreach in fragile states and least developed countries.
Previously, she was the Project Director of the MarketConnect project in Zambia where she led on the strategic and technical direction of the project. MarketConnect pioneered the first use of royalty payments by SMEs in East Africa, whereby SMEs who received TA and became more profitable paid back a percentage of their profit to an escrow account devised by Nathan, located at the Government of Zambia. Christina set up this facility and worked directly with SMEs, supporting them on their growth path to become more competitive, increase profitability and turnover, linking them to new buyers on a national, regional and international level, and becoming more attractive to investors by improving their investment readiness.
From 2016 until 2022, Ms. Clark-Lowes has been providing technical and strategic support to the Land Investment for Transformation (LIFT) programme in Ethiopia, which applied a market systems lens to a land programme in the rural areas of Ethiopia's highlands. In her role she supported the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions that leverage increased tenure security to increase investments. Interventions ranged from access to finance and specific loan products for land holders and piloting multi-peril crop insurance products, to establishing a transparent and formalized rural land rental market, as well as commercially driven agricultural input markets. In addition, it successfully introduced a number of policy changes in the country, including the ability to collateralize rural land for rural smallholder farmers.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Serco Inc
David (Dave) J. Dacquino serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Serco Inc., a $1.5 billion leading provider of professional, technology, and management services to the U.S. federal government, the government of Canada, state and local governments, and commercial enterprises. Mr. Dacquino oversees approximately 8,000 employees and brings to Serco more than 30 years of experience in the defense, aeronautics and technical services industries.
Job Titles:
- Dinara Iunusalieva Is Director of Program Operations for International Development, Leading and Coordinating Program Operations across Four Technical Groups
- Director of Operations ( US )
Dinara Iunusalieva is a certified project management professional with more than 19 years of experience managing large-scale complex contracts and cooperative agreements, funded by USAID/Washington, Bureau for Global Health, Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation, USAID Missions in Iraq, Central Asia, Indonesia, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Uganda, Guinea, Jordan, etc., US Department of State, DFID, and NORAD. Dinara's wide-ranging project management experience includes headquarters-based work, long-term field-based work in Central Asia, and short-term assignments in Middle East, Eastern Europe, South Asia and East and West Africa. Dinara has solid experience in program and operations management, financial and personnel management, procurement, contract and grant administration. Prior to joining Nathan, Dinara worked as Director for Finance and Administrations, Implementation Science Programs, at University Research Co., LLC.
Dinara Iunusalieva is Director of Program Operations for International Development, leading and coordinating program operations across four technical groups.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Chairman of Parabilis
Dr. Edward H. Bersoff is currently Chairman of Parabilis, LLC a business finance company located in Northern Virginia. He is also the Chairman of Greenwich Associates, LLC, a business advisory firm. He was formerly the Chairman and CEO of ATS Corporation, a publicly traded (NYSE-AMEX: ATSC) Northern Virginia based company serving the information technology needs of the Government and private sectors. ATSC was acquired in March, 2012.
Dr. Bersoff was previously Chairman, President and CEO of BTG, Inc., an information technology firm he founded in 1982. The company's common stock was listed on the NASDAQ National Market. In November 2001 BTG was acquired by the Titan Corporation, a NYSE listed company. Dr. Bersoff was elected to the Board of Titan in February 2002. Titan was sold to L-3 Communications in August, 2005.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal
- Principal Associate ( US )
Dr. Uzma Ashraf Barton is Principal Associate at Nathan where she leads domestic resource mobilization (DRM), public financial management (PFM), and economic research and analysis across an expanding portfolio of field projects. She also provides technical advisory and manages new business development.
Dr. Barton brings 18 years of experience negotiating, designing, implementing, and leading, governance reform projects with national governments and development finance institutions (DFIs) across Asia and Africa. Her expertise focuses on broadening fiscal space, increasing own-source revenues, competitiveness analysis, introduction of new laws (VAT) and regulations, analysis, due diligence, and use of technology. She has worked extensively on legal aspects of financial inclusion and market development (World Bank, Asian Development Bank), and Chinese DFIs' impact including Renminbi's rise (Atlantic Council). Informed by her implementing complex tax reform projects of over US $149 million, her field experience exercising all tax functions (enforcement, audit, tax-broadening, legal), and her leading the Prime Minister's governance reform agenda at the Prime Minister's Secretariat (Islamabad), Dr. Barton understands the weaknesses in the design and delivery of public sector reforms.
Dr. Barton's book Rethinking Finance (Kluwer 2017) provides focus at regulatory weaknesses. She co-edited Abraham and the Secular (Pelgrave 2021), and has extensively published elsewhere. She has a PhD and an LLM in Finance Law.
Job Titles:
- Principal Associate ( US )
- Project Director for USAID
Eileen Barber is a Principal Associate in the International Development Trade and Logistics team at Nathan.
Ms. Barber serves as Project Director for USAID-funded prime contracts in the trade portfolio in Latin America and Asia. Her technical experience spans trade facilitation measures, port logistics, and digital trade. She has designed and implemented communications campaigns for USAID. Prior to joining Nathan, Ms. Barber worked at DAI, ACDI/VOCA and DT Global (formerly AECOM) managing and implementing USAID-funded programs in the areas of economic growth and democracy and governance. She has served in a variety of management and technical roles, including nearly eight years of field experience.
She holds an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in International Affairs and a graduate diploma in International Business with a focus on Foreign Trade. She is fluent in Spanish.
Job Titles:
- Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Practice Lead ( UK )
Enrico Paul Neumann is the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Practice Lead at Nathan's London office with more than ten years of professional experience, including seven years designing, delivering, and quality assuring monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) assignments for Nathan. Mr. Neumann's MEL experience cuts across a range of sectors. He is equally comfortable operating in private sector development, financial inclusion and education as he is in land and agriculture. Recently, he headed the monitoring and evaluation practice for FCDO's £72m Land Investment for Transformation programme in Ethiopia. In this role, he implemented an extensive evaluation of the programme's theory of change, including large-scale quantitative impact evaluations and in-depth qualitative studies. Mr. Neumann has delivered DCED-compliant results-measurement frameworks for FCDO programmes across sub-Saharan Africa. He has quality-assured rigorous experimental and quasi-experimental impact evaluations, including randomised control trials and quasi-experimental designs, as part of FCDO's £500m Girls' Education Challenge Fund Manager team.
Mr. Neumann has also delivered extensive data analytics and research projects for clients such as World Bank's Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), Financial Sector Deepening Trust (FSDT) Tanzania, Mercy Corps AgriFin, FinScope, and the Mastercard Foundation. For CGAP, he led a team of five data analysts to conduct complex data analysis of CGAP's smallholder diaries and household surveys across Africa and South Asia. As part of the assignment, he analysed the economic profiles of Nigerian smallholder farmers to understand barriers to financial inclusion and provide business opportunities for private sector stakeholders.
Before Nathan, Mr. Neumann was a project manager at KPMG UK, ensuring the high-quality delivery of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) Secretariat. In this role, he managed and quality assured the delivery of up to eight ICAI reports at a time, across different delivery stages, teams of experts, and thematic areas, while adhering to the high standards of ICAI and the House of Commons International Development Committee (IDC).
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Economic Policy and Governance
- Vice President, Economic Policy and Governance ( US )
Eric Uggen is Vice President of Economic Policy and Governance with responsibility for a diverse portfolio of projects in economic governance, economic policy, domestic resource mobilization, and public financial management.
Job Titles:
- Economist
- Vice President ( UK )
Ignacio Fiestas, an economist with more than 20 years of experience, specializes in the areas of private sector development, including market systems development, SME competitiveness, and sustainable finance. He has been involved in the design, implementation, and evaluation of private sector and market development programmes in Africa, Latin America and Asia. His areas of expertise also include business enabling environment reforms, strategy & policy building, and monitoring & evaluation.
Ignacio joined Nathan in 2008 and quickly acquired an applied understanding of how the private sector contributes to inclusive growth, and the instruments and approaches available for strengthening its competitiveness, inclusiveness, and sustainability. He currently leads London's business development efforts and heads its Economic Growth practice. Ignacio has led private sector development programmes in Zambia, Ghana and Ethiopia, among others.
Before Nathan, Ignacio was involved in the Operationalizing Pro-Poor Growth initiative, a World Bank programme analyzing the economic growth experience of developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. He also worked at the Regional Unit of Technical Assistance (RUTA) in Costa Rica, providing support to Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development throughout Central America.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President
- Senior Vice President, International Development ( US )
Jeffrey Singer is Senior Vice President for International Development. A visionary executive leader with a successful track record of designing and implementing innovative solutions to complex international development challenges. He has more than 28 years of U.S. government contracting, program management, and business development experience including more than 15 years serving in executive management positions. He has achieved significant impact in a range of international development technical areas including economic development, private sector development, trade and logistics, agribusiness and food security, women's economic empowerment, financial inclusion, development finance, investment promotion, governance, health, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL). He has worked in more than 30 countries in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe and Eurasia, and Africa.
As Senior Vice President, he serves on the Executive Leadership Committee with responsibility for Nathan's U.S. international development programs and the company's largest business line. He has doubled the size of international development practice to a $300 million portfolio operating in more than 50 countries. Nathan provides a range of highly technical and innovative solutions in the areas of trade policy and facilitation, public financial management, economic policy, private sector development, business enabling environment, gender and social inclusion, and structured finance and investment. He leads Nathan's engagement with a wide range of clients including U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC), U.S. Trade Development Agency (USTDA), Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Prior to Nathan, he was an integral contributor in shaping and growing The QED Group through various stages of its evolution from a disadvantaged 8(a) small business with a handful of prime contracts to a flourishing graduated mid-size company with 100 percent full and open revenue operating in more than 15 countries. As President and CEO, he expanded QED's client portfolio to include a wide range of U.S. federal agencies and international donors including USAID, CDC, USDA, the State Department, and UK DFID.
Jeffrey holds an M.A. in Russian and East European Studies from The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Global Human Resources
- Certified Coach from Northern Virginia Community College
Jennifer Feinleib leads the global human capital function at Nathan Associates. In her role, she will focus on HR and Human Capital initiatives in a systematic and proactive way that is consistent with Nathan's expert workforce and Nathan's vision and strategy for growth and diversification. She is also responsible for developing Nathan's talent management philosophy and developing a strategy for acquiring, developing, rewarding and retaining the best talent possible.
Ms. Feinleib's experience includes both operational and strategic experience in HR for both the commercial and public sector. She was most recently with Enviva, a leader in the biomass fuels sector, focused on building their talent acquisition function, corporate HR and HR compliance functions. She also served as a talent acquisition leader for both DAI and AECOM International Development. At DAI, she oversaw the upgrade of DAI's candidate management and applicant tracking systems, developed and delivered recruitment training and coached and shadowed recruiters on proposal efforts. When Ms. Feinleib joined TSG, now AECOM International Development, she built the recruitment function from the ground up. She partnered with senior management and the technical teams to support them in their recruitment selection and hiring of top talent. She integrated TSG's recruitment data into AECOM's systems to generate data for workforce planning. She developed and executed recruitment processes and policies for proposals and corporate hires to support the business operations.
Prior to working in the international development space, Ms. Feinleib worked for AOL helping them monetize their web property tools in Israel and in the United States. She also lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, working for Ganesha Aggies Jaya, an HR consulting firm. She partnered with multinational firms to set-up their representative offices and managed their expatriate formalities.
Ms. Feinleib is a certified coach from Northern Virginia Community College and has a certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) awarded by Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI).
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal
- Principal Associate ( US )
Kate Francis joined Nathan as a Principal Associate in the Economic Engagement and Private Sector Development practice.
A gender expert with over 15 years of experience designing and implementing women's empowerment, gender integration, and social inclusion programs, Kate's subject matter expertise spans women's economic empowerment, human trafficking, child labor, gender budgeting, and women's leadership and political participation. She has led research, strategy development, and capacity building initiatives with a range of international organizations, including The Asia Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and Plan International. She also has extensive experience engaging with government and multilateral stakeholders such as the U.S. Department of State, USAID, DFAT, UN Women, Asian Development Bank, ASEAN, and APEC. Most recently, Kate led the development and delivery of the Bali Care Economy Dialogue, a gathering of experts from across Asia and the Pacific focusing on building a resilient care ecosystem in the region.
Kate holds a Master of Arts in international development and gender studies from the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts in theatre from the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota.
Katherine (Kathy) Clark served as chief executive officer of Smarthinking, Inc, the leading provider of online tutoring services to colleges and universities from April 2009 until February 2011. She joined the company in April 2009 to oversee development and execution of the company's growth plan, to increase the company's valuation, and to find an exit strategy for investors. Smarthinking was acquired by TutorVista/Pearson in February 2011.
Prior to joining SMARTHINKING, Kathy was the co-founder of Landmark Systems Corporation, an enterprise software company located in Reston, VA, that she started with two partners in 1983.
Kathy is an experienced executive whose leadership helped Landmark grow at an aggressive rate, leading to an IPO in 1997. She continued to serve as CEO of Landmark until 2002 when the company was acquired by ASG Software. Following the acquisition of Landmark (revenues of $60M), Kathy and her husband spent much of the next six years on their sailboat in the South Pacific.
Job Titles:
- Director of Business Development
- Director of Business Development for International Development ( US )
Katie Henke is Director of Business Development in the International Development team and has over 15 years of experience covering a wide range of economic, governance, social, and environmental issues throughout sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe. Ms. Henke has worked with a variety of clients, including USAID, USDOL, USDOS, DFID, SDC, MCC, DFAT, DFC, private and philanthropic foundations, and multinational corporations.
Job Titles:
- Head of Programme Delivery
- Managing Director ( UK )
- Managing Director of Nathan 's London
Kurt Koomen is the Managing Director of Nathan's London office and has worked in the development sector for over 25 years. He has extensive corporate management and leadership experience, and has a proven track record in the direction, management and technical delivery of large and complex international development programmes.
Kurt joined Nathan in 2019 as Head of Programme Delivery prior to assuming the role of Managing Director in 2021. He is currently also Programme Director on Nathan London's largest programme, Invest Salone.
Kurt has technical and management experience across a wide range of areas, including livelihoods and rural development, markets and agribusiness, private sector development, social protection, and cash transfers. He has experience in successful delivery for a broad range of clients including FCDO, BII, USAID, DFAT, Irish Aid, ADB and the World Bank. Kurt has worked across countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands, with extensive time in Timor-Leste, Vietnam and Uganda.
Prior to joining Nathan, Kurt worked for 10 years running a project management unit for a UK development consultancy firm and has also performed a range of in-country consultancy and delivery roles.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal
- Principal Associate ( US )
Lisabeth Meyers is a Principal Associate specialized in developing and implementing strategies, institutional policies, and technical activities to improve gender equality and women's empowerment results at programmatic and organizational levels. She leads gender integration and social inclusion across a portfolio of international projects, manages new business development, and provides technical assistance to clients
Ms. Meyers has designed and provided input on gender equality strategies and gender action plans, conducted gender assessments, analyses, and research, facilitated gender integration trainings, led workshops for women entrepreneurs, and provided technical assistance on gender issues for USAID, GIZ, CGAP/World Bank, UNWomen, and international NGOs. She has sectoral expertise in economic growth, trade, agriculture and food security, gender-based violence, and health. Previously, she was a Senior Gender Specialist at Banyan Global, where she oversaw gender integration for projects in Africa and Asia.
Ms. Meyers is a co-facilitator of the SEEP Women's Economic Empowerment Working Group, where she leads activities to promote collaboration, learning, and knowledge-sharing for working group members around the world.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal
- Principal Associate ( US )
Lynn Salinger is a Principal Associate and brings four decades of experiences in economic growth analysis, women's economic empowerment, energy, agriculture, and food policy, labor markets and workforce development, and trade. Her work in Africa, North Africa, and Asia helps associations, companies, governments, and individuals in low- and middle- income countries benefit from joining world markets and global value-chains.
For USAID, Ms. Salinger is guiding workforce development programs to help youth acquire the skills needed for employment rapidly transforming economies. For Millennium Challenge Corporation she supports program development and implementation, helping to ensure that vulnerable social groups benefit from infrastructure investments.
Expertise
International Development
Financial Services
Federal Services
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President in Nathan 's London
- Senior Vice President, International Development ( UK )
Mark Thomas is Senior Vice President in Nathan's London office and has worked since 1982 as a development economist, largely in Africa and the Caribbean.
Mr. Thomas' many specialties include connecting smallholder farmers to domestic and export markets by developing sustainable supply chain linkages, and working with private sector investors to leverage funds for pro-poor impact. He has worked closely with the public sector, major retailers and brands, and small agribusinesses to achieve maximum value added through policy reform, access to finance, input and service delivery and market development.
He is very familiar with "markets systems approaches", implementing interventions to achieve systemic change in market performance for the benefit of poor producers and consumers, rather than ad hoc problem solving. He has deep experience using the Challenge Fund instrument to support businesses grow and innovate and oversaw DFID's successful Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund (FRICH), which supported the development of new business models to bring African food products to the UK.
His broad expertise extends to monitoring and evaluation for a range of projects and clients. He is currently overseeing Nathan's delivery of an innovative and rigorous approach to results measurement within the multi-country, multi-project Girls' Education Challenge, delivering improved learning outcomes for disadvantaged girls in Africa and Asia.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Principal of Tower Hill Advisors
Mr. Connor is a Principal of Tower Hill Advisors, a management consulting firm for the media, financial services, and financial information/technology industries. He also served until July as CEO of Gimme Credit LLC, a provider of global research and investment recommendations on corporate bonds.
For more than two decades previously, Mr. Connor was CEO at Market News International (MNI), a leading news and analysis service covering the fixed income and foreign exchange markets. He led MNI from its early development phase to its status as the news division of Deutsche Boerse AG, a premier operator of exchanges and provider of multiple services for securities and derivatives trading.
While at MNI, Mr. Connor introduced new products and services, built a network of senior-level people at major financial firms worldwide, and engaged in both acquisitions and sales of businesses. He is especially grounded in economics, finance, markets, and strategic planning. His management reach extended to operations in 11 countries.
Mr. Connor actively participates in several industry groups. He has served as president of the Money Marketeers of New York University, an association of professionals and academics in the fixed income market, and as committee chair of the Financial Information Services Division of the Software and Information Industry Association. He served on the board of trustees of his alma mater, Lehigh University.
Paul Bourquin is an economist and survey researcher with more than 30 years of experience. He has designed and implemented surveys for private clients in litigation and for professional and trade associations. He has conducted surveys regarding business activity, economic impact, financial and operating information, consumer behavior and opinions, compensation, technology, and corporate philanthropy.
His survey and other assignments have involved a wide range of businesses and industries, most notably broadcast media, retail trade, and transportation. His litigation surveys have been used in evaluating liability and in calculating damages. Mr. Bourquin joined Nathan Associates in 1982.
Job Titles:
- Senior Public - Private Partnerships and Project Finance Expert
- Senior Public Private Partnerships and Project Finance Expert ( US )
Rafael Enríquez is Senior Public-Private Partnerships and Project Finance Expert and applies his training in engineering, investment banking, and transportation to all aspects of planning, financing, and carrying out infrastructure projects. His 20+ years of experience in the field extends to private equity and venture capital financing, mergers, acquisitions, and public-private partnerships. He and his teams perform due diligence analysis and independent engineering services for banks and international lenders.
Since joining Nathan in 2008, Mr. Enriquez supported projects related to biomass, hydropower, and ports. He also directed or lent his expertise to determine the need for airports and other infrastructure, rail services enhancements, trade facilitation, and the improvement of civil aviation, among others.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President of Financial Services
- Senior Vice President, Financial Services ( US )
Dr. Mandapaka is Senior Vice President of Financial Services. For over twenty years, Dr. Mandapaka has led practice areas providing consulting services in risk, compliance, IT, and data. He has championed large, complex projects; has grown diverse, committed, talented teams that thrived on project ownership; achieved cross-organizational collaboration; and effectively defended business processes to oversight bodies.
Dr. Mandapaka has provided consulting services to large and multinational banks, regional and community banks, government sponsored entities, central banks, and regulatory agencies.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of the Structured Finance and Investment
- Vice President, Structured Finance and Investment ( US )
Sean Keogh is Vice President of the Structured Finance and Investment at Nathan.
Sean oversees all of Nathan's international capital markets and Environmental, Social, and Governance finance and reporting advisory work with more than 22 years of experience with top international organizations. Sean advises governments, financial institutions, and corporations on developing ESG and capital markets strategies globally. He specializes in securities markets, financial regulation, blended finance, corporate governance, sustainable and social finance, climate-related financial disclosures, green bonds, complex credit guarantees, financial structuring, digital assets, and innovative finance.
Prior to joining Nathan, Sean worked at Aldwych Capital Partners in New York where he launched the global capital markets business, and structured private debt and quasi-equity deals. He has also worked for Citigroup Global Markets and Banking and The Bank New York (BNY Mellon) where he managed more than $2 billion in assets and co-managed three publicly-held mutual funds representing $17 billion in assets.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal
- Principal Associate ( US )
Shamarukh Mohiuddin is a Principal Associate specializing in private sector development and engagement. Her work focuses on harnessing the power of business for international development and trade facilitation. She is currently providing technical and policy support on a project involving the member economies of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Before joining Nathan, Ms. Mohiuddin served as the Director of Economic Empowerment at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation where she provided leadership on the social investment efforts of global Fortune 500 companies and facilitated public private partnerships.
Throughout her 15+ year career, she has worked on corporate social impact and sustainability, trade policy and market integration, public private partnerships, workforce development, entrepreneurship, women's economic empowerment, financial inclusion and a range of policy advisory services. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, NGOs and foundations on projects in Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal
- Principal Associate ( US )
Shannon Gaffney is a Principal Associate with nearly 15 years of experience in international trade policy and practice, providing strategic advice to a wide range of private sector, government, and development actors to promote increased trade and competitiveness. Her expertise includes digital trade, e-commerce, and trade facilitation and trade logistics for the digital economy.
She comes to Nathan from a dual Chief of Party role on two projects (Digital Economy and Market Development (DEMD) and the Trade and Competitiveness Activity (TCA)) with USAID's Center for Economics and Market Development in the Bureau for Development, Democracy and Innovation. Previously, Ms. Gaffney supported business development, thought leadership, and short-term technical assistance for other government contractors, including as Acting Global Lead for DAI's Trade and Competitiveness practice. She also spent six years at the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, advising Congress on international trade and competitiveness issues.
Ms. Gaffney earned a master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business. She is proficient in Spanish.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- President
Susan Chodakewitz, a highly recognized and accomplished senior executive with a proven track record of turning around, building, and growing businesses, joined Nathan as president and chief operating officer in May 2015. In her capacity as president and CEO, Ms. Chodakewitz is restructuring, rebranding, and repositioning the firm to promote growth and diversification of offerings and clients, and refresh the corporate culture. Ms. Chodakewitz also serves on the Nathan Board of Directors and is Chair of the Board of Nathan London. Her success lies in her ability to operate at strategic and tactical levels, work across numerous stakeholder communities, and communicate and motivate through both written and oral communication.
She possesses a very broad and diverse portfolio of accomplishments, having worked with the Federal Government and commercial industry, as well as international NGOs and non-profits. Before becoming Nathan's president and chief executive officer, Ms. Chodakewitz served eight years as president of Tetra Tech AMT, an aviation management and IT subsidiary of Tetra Tech Inc., a multibillion-dollar consulting firm. She positioned the subsidiary as a premiere provider of aerospace and technology services, and broadened the client base in U.S. federal, commercial, and international markets. In 2010 the firm was named "FAA Large Business of the Year."
Previously she spent more than a decade at SAIC, a major defense and national security contractor, where she advanced to senior vice president, almost doubled revenue at SAIC's business consulting program, and directed a unit that reached nearly $200 million in annual revenue. She also spent almost 10 years at Booz, Allen & Hamilton supporting a wide range of clients.
Ms. Chodakewitz has been publicly recognized for her achievements, receiving the "Leadership in Business" award at the Women's Center Leadership Conference in 2014, the Brava Award from SmartCEO Magazine in 2012, and the "Women Who Mean Business" award from the Washington Business Journal in 2011.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal
- Principal Associate ( US )
Taunya Atwood is a Principal Associate and a seasoned project management specialist with Nathan's International Development division. Her experience includes field-based project design, operations management, procurement, grant and contract administration, financial management, personnel management, and logistics oversight for U.S. government clients. Recently, Ms. Atwood supported the launch of the Moldova Institutional and Structural Reform Activity (MISRA) as the project's startup advisor. As a Principal Associate in Nathan's Economic Empowerment and Private Sector Development unite, she serves in the role of Project Director for five of Nathan's projects, spanning USAID, USDA, and MCC clients. In her seventeen years of experience she has led high-value projects, USAID pilot activities, and programs with a high degree of complexity.
Prior to her time at Nathan, Ms. Atwood served as Deputy Chief of Party of Operations for a USAID environmental project in Jordan, where she managed workflow and designed and oversaw policies and procedures aligned with project management best practices.
Job Titles:
- Principal Associate ( US )
Job Titles:
- Principal Economist
- Principal Economist ( US )
Tim Robinson is the Principal Economist at Nathan. With nearly 15 years' experience in international development spanning several countries and institutions, his expertise covers macroeconomic modelling and policy, data analytics, public financial management and domestic revenue mobilization.
Prior to his work with Nathan, Mr. Robinson was the Director for the Australia-PNG Economic Partnerships and has been a senior economic advisor to Treasurers and Deputy Prime Ministers for Papua New Guinea. He has previously worked with Nathan Associates as a Principal Associate, and prior to that had been a Macro and PFM Advisor for the Governments of Afghanistan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Egypt, Uganda, among others. He has worked across several agencies, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, US Treasury, and multiple others advising and undertaking research as well as helping groups like the UK's FCDO develop country strategies for economic interventions. This work has ranged from the development of financial programming frameworks that can be easily populated and updated by governments, to econometric modelling; as well as work on budget planning and the developing of fiscal space analysis, to cash management processes and fiscal reporting.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Chief Operations Officer of Internews
Usha serves as the Chief Operations Officer of Internews. Internews is a non-profit that empowers people worldwide with the trustworthy, high-quality news and information they need to make informed decisions, participate in their communities, and hold power to account. Usha leads the organization in the next phase of its development and strengthens Internews' ability to support independent media in 100 countries around the world. In this role, she is responsible for financial management, security, facilities, human resources, and information technology.
Usha earned a bachelor's degree in English literature from St. Stephen's College in New Delhi, India and a World Executive MBA from George Washington University in Washington, DC. She has also completed graduate programs and is an alumna of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.
Prior to joining Internews, Usha served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Kettler. She has also served as the Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of The Pew Charitable Trusts. She was also Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at The Washington Post, and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at United Way of America. Prior to that, she was with Freddie Mac in a number of executive positions focused on strategy, operations, and risk management.
Usha has served on several for-profit and non-profit Boards. She is currently on the Board of Nathan Associates, an international economic consulting organization. She is a strong advocate for education and is a supporter of a number of charitable organizations geared toward bettering youth through structured enrichment programs. Just a few of her philanthropic involvements include serving on the Boards of India International School, a well-established Northern Virginia Indian American education and cultural center and a recent start-up called RENEW (Reform Education for a New World).
Usha was a 2016 Honoree of the Women Who Mean Business and was awarded Non-Profit CFO of the Year for Innovation in 2007.
Job Titles:
- Director of Communications
Yasmine Djellal is Director of Communications at Nathan, with responsibility for leading corporate and integrated communications strategy and programs. In this role, Ms. Djellal strengthens Nathan's corporate reputation by guiding external, internal, executive, digital communications, strategic marketing, branding, and engagement.
Ms. Djellal is a 360-degree communicator with over 15 years of international and supranational experience. Prior to joining Nathan, she was Senior Communications Officer at the World Bank Group where she designed, advised on, and led global campaigns, strategic communications, high-level and local engagement, media relations, and crisis management. Her roles included leading communications for the Office of the Senior Vice President and General Counsel, the WBG Anti-Racism Task Force, The Gender Group, Education Global Practice, Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice, Connect4Climate, Governance Global Practice, World Bank Innovation Labs, and the Global Environment Facility.
Ms. Djellal is the recipient of the 2013 World Bank Group Presidential Award for Innovation and Commitment to International Development, and a 2004 Presidential Scholar. She is also a Board member of the Algerian Women Foundation and Arab Women in Computing.