PLENARY SPEAKERS

 
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Susanna Mudge

Chair, Board of Directors
Chemonics International

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Susanna Mudge

Susanna Mudge

President and Chief Executive Officer Susanna Mudge came to Chemonics in 1992 and has served the company in many key leadership roles, including as executive vice president, senior vice president of the Latin America and Caribbean region, and as director of several of the company’s larger programs. She brings in-depth global expertise in strategic private sector development, organizational development, trade and investment promotion and sustainable natural resource management. Ms. Mudge joined the firm as a director in the then Central Division, responsible for leading a private enterprise development indefinite quantity contract (IQC). She then served as a director in the Europe and Newly Independent States (ENI) Division, where she oversaw several large privatization and enterprise restructuring-related projects. In 1996, she took on technical leadership of the firm’s private sector development practice and served as a centralized technical director and adviser to Chemonics’ growing portfolio in export finance, enterprise development and product marketing. Ms. Mudge was appointed Senior Vice President of the Latin America and Caribbean region in 1998, and during her tenure, grew the region from four programs in three countries to 26 projects in 14 countries. She also served as acting Chief of Party of one of the firm’s flagship projects, the Peru Alternative Development project, in 2004-2005. During her seven-year tenure as executive vice president, Ms. Mudge led several critical corporate initiatives, including leading the Transaction Committee that led to Chemonics becoming 100-percent employee-owned. Ms. Mudge sees quality project management as “inextricably linked to business success because that is what differentiates us and makes us competitive.” Raised both in the U.S. and in several countries in Latin America, she began her career as a regional development and tourism specialist for the Organization of American States, then as a privatization specialist with Ernst and Young, responsible for managing marketing and investment projects in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Ms. Mudge holds a B.A. from Oberlin College and an MBA from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

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Tine Knott

Senior Vice President
DAI

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Tine Knott

Tine Knott

Tine Knott oversees the development, marketing, and delivery of DAI’s development solutions for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the State Department, and other U.S. Government clients. Tine previously served as Vice President of DAI’s Center for Secure and Stable States, which she launched in 2017 with a mission to raise the bar for development and security programming in fragile environments. For the three years prior, she was DAI’s Managing Director for Governance, Transition, and Stability, where she was responsible for the company’s portfolio of good governance, stabilization, political transition, countering violent extremism, peace building, citizen security, and public financial management work. Before joining DAI in 2011, Tine spent 15 years with USAID, including assignments in Ghana, Jordan, Mozambique, and Peru, as well as in Washington, D.C.

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ellen yount

Vice President
MSI, a Tetra Tech Company

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Ellen Yount

Ellen Yount

Prior to her career in international development, she was appointed by Governor Tom Ridge (R-PA) to serve in his Administration, serving as the youngest female Director of Communications in state history. Ellen has been a champion of female leadership, from promoting and mentoring young women in the Balkans where she ran a democracy NGO, to training government officials and women political activists/candidates in Serbia, Indonesia, Jordan, Croatia, Timor-Leste and Libya.

Lisa MAy

Exec. VP: HR & Corporate Communications
RTI

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Lisa May

Lisa May

Lisa May is the executive vice president of human resources and corporate communications, leading the department as a member of the executive leadership team and advising on human resources strategies, policies and practices, and key people-related initiatives. She has more than 25 years of experience in strategic human resource management, with demonstrated expertise in talent acquisition, leadership development, executive coaching, and organizational design. Prior to joining RTI, May was the head of human resources for AAIPharma Services Corporation and Cambridge Major Laboratories, where she established human resource strategies and developed comprehensive systems and programs across the company. Previously, she served as the vice president of HR for the Global Operations organization at Hospira, Inc. May has earned certifications in mediation, workforce development, and coaching skills.

Simi Nwogugu

Executive Director
Junior Achievement Nigeria

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Simi Nwogugu

"Simi Nwogugu is the executive director of Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN), which she started in 1999, after she served as a JA volunteer in New York. Simi started her career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs after studying economics and English at Mount Holyoke College, and it was at Goldman that she was introduced to JA New York. After setting up and running JA Nigeria for three years, she left to pursue an MBA at Harvard Business School, after which she worked at MTV Networks in Business Development and Corporate Strategy for a few years before launching HOD Consulting, Inc., a New York-based leadership development firm that helps major corporations retain and advance high-performing women, particularly women of color. After a decade of entrepreneurship, Simi returned to her role as executive director of JAN in 2016, to help the organization expand its economic empowerment programs to reach one million young people across Nigeria. JA Nigeria has reached over 980,000 in- and out-of-school youth in Nigeria, and Simi's goal is to build the capacity of the organization to reach one million youth annually."

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Sylvia megret

Chief Operating Officer
ACDI VOCA

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Sylvia Megret

Sylvia Megret

Ms. Megret is a strategic and resourceful management, operations, and business development executive with over 25 years of experience working with mission-driven international development organizations. She brings proven expertise in convening and building successful global teams. She is skilled in the conceptualization and institutionalization of innovative business systems, enhancing efficiency and continuous process improvement. Ms. Megret is recognized as problem-solver, mentor to staff at all levels, and thought leader.

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Shiro Gnanaselvam

Executive VP; Chief Operating Officer
Social Impact

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Shiro Gnanaselvam

Shiro Gnanaselvam

Shiro has built her career scaling and repositioning organizations. As the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Social Impact (SI), Shiro brings over 25 years of international development experience in program, operational and leadership roles to develop and execute SI’s corporate strategy. Shiro has been instrumental in charting SI’s growth as a global management consulting firm that advances development effectiveness through monitoring, evaluation, strategic planning, and capacity building services. Her talent for developing strategy and translating it into action has allowed her to serve organizations ranging from for profit consulting firms such as Pricewaterhous Coopers and IBM to government agencies the Millennium Challenge Corporation, multi lateral agencies such as the World Bank and non-profits like Africare. Shiro is passionate about building high performing teams, using data to drive high-impact decision making, and mentoring and coaching. She was born and raised in Sri Lanka and moved to the U.S, to obtain her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College. She also has an MPA from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a M.B.A from the University of Maryland.

Jay knott

Chief Business Officer
Abt Associates

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Jay Knott

Jay Knott

Jay L. Knott is the Chief Business Officer at Abt Associates, overseeing all of the company’s business operations, including its wholly owned subsidiaries, Abt Australia and Abt Britain. He is a member of the Leadership Committee. Mr. Knott serves on the Board of Directors of the Society for International Development, Washington chapter (SID-W).

StÉphanie Oueda Cruz

Head of Gender and Diversity
IDB

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Stephanie Oueda Cruz

Stephanie Oueda Cruz

Ms. Oueda Cruz ensures that all operations, when relevant, have a positive impact to lead to a more gender balanced society. She has spear-headed the initiative to foster programs that also include other under-represented groups, such as afro-descendants, LGBT, indigenous people and people with disabilities.