The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the United States government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $50 billion,USAID is one of the largest official aid agencies in the world and accounts for more than half of all U.S. foreign assistance –the highest in the world in absolute dollar terms.
Aviva Chomsky is an American professor,historian,author,and activist. She is a professor of history and the Coordinator of Latin American,Latino and Caribbean Studies at Salem State University in Massachusetts. She previously taught at Bates College in Maine and was a research associate at Harvard University,where she specialized in Caribbean and Latin American history.
Haiti—an island country 600 mi (970 km) off the coast of the U.S. state of Florida—shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Haiti has received billions in foreign assistance,yet persists as one of the poorest countries and has the lowest human development index in the Americas. There have been more than 15 natural disasters since 2001 including tropical storms,flooding,earthquakes and hurricanes. The international donor community classifies Haiti as a fragile state. Haiti is also considered a post-conflict state—one emerging from a recent coup d'état and civil war.
Hady Amr is an American government official serving as special representative for Palestinian affairs since the 22nd of November,2022. He was previously Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs within the U.S. Department of State. The new position is a significant upgrade in relations with Palestine. He was appointed to the role under President Joe Biden on January 20,2021. He was born in Lebanon,and has close ties to the region,being praised by both Israeli and Palestinian leaders alike.
Jorge I. Domínguez,a scholar of Latin American studies in the United States,taught at Harvard University from 1972 to 2018,when he retired as the Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico.
Lael Brainard is an American economist serving as the 14th director of the National Economic Council since February 21,2023. She previously served as the 22nd vice chair of the Federal Reserve between May 2022 and February 2023. Prior to her term as vice chair,Brainard served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,taking office in 2014. Before her appointment to the Federal Reserve,she served as the under secretary of the treasury for international affairs from 2010 to 2013.
Nora Lustig is the Samuel Z. Stone Professor of Latin American Economics and the Director of the CEQ Institute at Tulane University,and a non-resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development and the Inter-American Dialogue.
Harry Joseph Holzer is an American economist,educator and public policy analyst.
Martha Alter Chen is an American academic,scholar and social worker,who is presently a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and senior advisor of the global research-policy-action network WIEGO and a member of the Advisory Board of the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER). Martha is a development practitioner and scholar who has worked with the working poor in India,South Asia,and around the world. Her areas of specialization are employment,poverty alleviation,informal economy,and gender. She lived in Bangladesh working with BRAC,one of the world's largest non-governmental organizations,and in India,as field representative of Oxfam America for India and Bangladesh for 15 years.
Adriana Debora Kugler is an American economist who serves as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She previously served as U.S. executive director at the World Bank,nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in April 2022. She is a professor of public policy at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy and is currently on leave from her tenured position at Georgetown. She served as the Chief Economist to U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis from September 6,2011 to January 4,2013.
Alfred Palmerston Thorne was a development economist,international consultant and educator. He was a featured university lecturer at a number of international campuses including Oxford University. Authoring many articles on the economic development experience of developing countries,his scholarly works were published by Harvard University,Massachusetts Institute of Technology,Oxford Economic Papers,University of Puerto Rico,and University of the West Indies. Among other works,Dr. Thorne authored the Size,Structure and Growth of the Economy of Jamaica:A National Economic Accounts Study. The monograph traces the flow of national income throughout the country's economic sectors. It was very well received and has been collected by and taught at institutions and libraries across the globe. Thorne was also a contributor to Development Without Aid by Leopold Kohr.
Vanda Felbab-Brown is an American expert on internal and international organized crime. She is a senior fellow with the center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution,a Washington-based thinktank.
Susan M. Collins is an American economist who has served as the 14th president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston since July 1,2022. She is the first African American woman and first woman of color to lead any of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks. Collins previously served as the 16th provost and executive vice president for academic affairs of the University of Michigan from 2020 to 2022.
Bonnie Glick is an American diplomat and businesswoman who served as the Deputy Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development from 2019 to 2020. Nominated for the post by President Donald Trump in April 2018,she was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent in January 2019. On September 21,2021,Glick was announced as the inaugural CEO of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University during the Concordia Summit on the margins of the UN General Assembly.
Stephanie Aaronson is an American economist. She received her PhD in economics from Columbia University. Aaronson served as a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution until December 2022,where she held the position of vice president and director of economic studies. She specializes in labor economics and her current research focuses on labor force participation in the United States. Her work has been published in academic journals,such as the American Economic Review. Her research has been featured in prominent news publications,including The New York Times and The Economist.
Clara Mortenson Beyer was a pioneer in labor economics and workers rights. She worked under Frances Perkins at the United States Department of Labor during the New Deal era,and was instrumental in implementing minimum wage legislation via the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Sharon Block is an American attorney,government official,labor policy advisor and law professor who served during the Biden administration as the Associate Administrator delegated the duties of the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs from January 20,2021,to February 1,2022. During the Obama administration,Block served on the National Labor Relations Board and in the United States Department of Labor and the White House. She currently serves as a professor of practice and the executive director of the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School.
Erika Mouynes is a Panamanian diplomat and lawyer. Mouynes held various senior roles in the government of Panama,including serving as the 62nd Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Paloma Adams-Allen is a Jamaican-American foreign policy advisor who served as the deputy administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for management and resources in the Biden administration from October 2021 to April 2024.
Emiliana Vegas is a U.S.-based policy analyst,academic,and author. She is a [[[professor of practice]] at the Graduate School of Education,Harvard University.
