Leadership Archives

Leadership

President and Chief Executive Officer

David Hartingh

President and Chief Executive Officer

David is a transformational leader and executive with a proven track record of achieving results. Serving as President & CEO of IESC since 2018, David Hartingh is responsible for the strategic direction, financial performance, and achievement of results. From 2018 to 2024, he has led IESC to 60% growth in revenue and more than 500% growth of net assets. During this time, he strategically repositioned IESC to respond to the changed priorities of its clients/funders by expanding and refining IESC’s areas of expertise, and realigning IESC’s practice areas. He also led IESC through a name change and associated rebranding that marked the beginning of a new era in IESC’s long and storied history. Under his leadership, IESC regularly achieves its targets regarding client satisfaction and employee engagement, among other key performance indicators such as jobs created, sales facilitated, and finance and investment facilitated. Further, David established new avenues for Board engagement and information sharing and also led a restatement of IESC’s Bylaws in coordination with the Board. Prior to becoming IESC’s President & CEO, he was IESC’s Chief Operating Officer/Executive Vice President. He previously served as IESC’s Vice President of Global Programs and Associate Vice President and practice lead for trade and enterprise development. During these prior positions at IESC, David was instrumental in transforming IESC’s operating model and systems and competitively winning and successfully delivering results on numerous large-scale economic development projects around the world. His experience prior to joining IESC headquarters in 2005 includes managing an international trade and investment project operating in 37 countries, advising private sector clients with an international trade policy consulting firm, launching, and selling his own franchised small business, and advising franchise businesses as a consultant. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in International Economic Affairs from George Washington University.

Dan Nichols

Vice President, Finance and Accounting

Dan Nichols

Vice President, Finance and Accounting

Dan brought his 17+ years of experience in international development financial operations and management to IESC in 2019. So far in his career, Dan has managed portfolios of development programs of varying size and scope; designed and implemented efficient systems for financial planning, analysis, and cash management; and sat on both sides of the table regarding institutional investment decisions. He has extensive experience training and developing staff with diverse backgrounds, experience, and perspectives on topics including indirect cost recovery, budgeting, and financial planning. Dan is a proponent of teaching people how to fish.

Erin Spinnell

Vice President, Operations

Erin Spinnell

Vice President, Operations

Erin joined IESC in 2000 and has more than 20 years of professional experience and 18 years of experience in international development. She has managed overseas technical assistance and capacity-building programs across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Southeast Europe. She has been responsible for program design, quality control and a wide range of implementation activities across multiple sectors. As vice president of operations, she oversees IESC’s operations, systems, processes, compliance, human resources, security, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning. She holds a B.A. from the University of Washington and an M.A. from the George Washington University.

Judit Deilinger

Vice President, New Business

Judit Deilinger

Vice President, New Business

Judit is a senior international and business development executive with over 20 years of experience. At IESC, she is responsible for IESC’s business strategy, leads IESC’s new business development activities and manages a team of talented new business professionals. She is passionate about economic development and job creation, municipal management, and sustainable urban development. She is a perceptive trainer and facilitator with experience in association and institutional capacity building. Previously, she served as chief of party, designed and implemented multimillion-dollar development programs in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia, and held new business director positions. She was instrumental in the establishment of the ICMA China Center in Beijing. After hours, you may spot her on the ballroom dance floor. More about Judit.

Adam Keatts

Associate Vice President and Practice Lead, Agriculture-led Growth

Adam Keatts

Associate Vice President and Practice Lead, Agriculture-led Growth

Adam Keatts joined IESC in 2021 as the Associate Vice President and Practice Lead, Agriculture-led Growth. He is an agricultural expert who has managed market-led development and analytical activities across more than 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia over the last 17 years. Most recently, Adam was the Chief of Party for the Feed the Future Enabling Environment for Food Security Project and Director of the Food Analytics department for Fintrac, Inc. In these roles, Adam led the design and delivery of technical assistance to USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, Country Missions, implementing partners, and other development partners on topics such as food traceability, animal source foods, seed markets, commodity exchanges, agribusiness finance, Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards, and post-harvest practices. He previously also authored assessments of best practices in agricultural market facilitation and smallholder technology commercialization. Adam holds an MSc in Agricultural Economics and an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship.

Chad Ford

Associate Vice President and Practice Lead, Trade and Enterprise

Chad Ford

Associate Vice President and Practice Lead, Trade and Enterprise

Chad joined IESC in 2014. He is a trade, enterprise, and project management specialist with more than 23 years of professional experience, including more than 17 in international development working on economic growth programs funded by the United States (USAID), Great Britain (DfID), and Sweden (SIDA). He has led and supported multi-country technical teams on program strategy, design, and implementation. Chad has worked in Asia, Africa, and Eastern and Southern Europe on value chain development, trade capacity building, and commercial policy and regulation reform. He is a long-term member of the Washington International Trade Association and holds a bachelor’s degree in social science and Latin America area studies from the University of Minnesota and a master’s in international commerce and policy from George Mason University.

Pamela Stevens

Associate Vice President, Global Awards

Pamela Stevens

Associate Vice President, Global Awards

Pamela joined IESC in 2019. With more than 20 years of international development experience, she is accomplished in the capture and administration of U.S. foreign aid contracts and grants and in the creation and implementation of organizational practices that engender strong management of donor funds. She is IESC’s lead administrator for all contracts and grants matters, ensuring compliant, efficient and effective contract and grant operations. Previous work includes her tenure as a USAID contracts specialist, director of grants and contracts departments at two international NGOs, and principal and founder of a consulting practice that served more than 50 international nonprofit organizations in the areas of donor compliance, business development, organizational strategy, and capacity development. Pamela holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Masters degree in public policy and administration from the University of Maryland.

Sujeewa De Alwis

Associate Vice President, Financial Reporting

Sujeewa De Alwis

Associate Vice President, Financial Reporting

Sujeewa has more than 25 years of experience with U.S. government and donor-funded development projects, including project management and financial management. He is also very experienced with organizational budget planning and management. He has managed a wide variety of programs operating under different contract mechanisms and has a strong understanding of U.S. government regulations, requirements, and expectations. He has worked with IESC, in the field or home office, since 1991. He holds an M.B.A. from AIT, Thailand and a B.Sc. from the University of Sri Lanka.

Cindy Santos

Director, Finance and Accounting

Cindy Santos

Director, Finance and Accounting

Cindy has over 20 years of experience in all aspects of accounting, payroll, and administration. She joined IESC in 2006. As the director of accounting, she is responsible for the day to day operations of the accounting staff and accounting operations. Cindy has worked across a range of industries, including manufacturing and distribution, nonprofit, banking, and commercial airlines. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Sacred Heart College.

Courtney McNamara

Director, Operations and Programs

Courtney McNamara

Director, Operations and Programs

Courtney joined IESC in 2016 after beginning her career at DAI, bringing experience managing programs across a wide variety of technical focuses in Africa, Southeast Asia, and most recently, Afghanistan. Courtney is responsible for ensuring the success of her programs through managing daily operations over the life of the program, organizing efficient startups and closedowns, and collaborating with the program team to achieve technical objectives. Additionally, Courtney has spent significant time in the Afghanistan office supporting her program team in a range of roles. Courtney holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. More about Courtney.

Gabriela Kliewer

Director, Trade and Enterprise

Gabriela Kliewer

Director, Trade and Enterprise

Gabriela has more than 10 years of experience managing international development programs, including programs funded by USAID, USDA, US State Department, World Bank, and various private foundations. She joined IESC in 2013. Her current work focuses on value chain development and market-driven agriculture. Gabriela has managed program implementation in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Prior to joining IESC, Gabriela managed a diverse range of programs across sectors, from food security and education to workforce development at Counterpart International and the Nature Conservancy. A native of Quito, Ecuador, Gabriela is fluent in English, Spanish, French, and Italian. She holds an M.S. in nonprofit management from the University of Maryland.

Jenni Robinson

Director, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

Jenni Robinson

Director, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

Jenni joined IESC in 2022 bringing more than 20 years of experience in monitoring and evaluation including for programs funded through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of Labor, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the European Union (EU), the former U.K. Department for International Development (DFID), the former Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), as well as various other government and private funders. Jenni has worked as a consultant throughout Africa and the Middle East designing MEL systems and conducting data quality assessments (DQA) at the national level for USAID as well as internally for a wide variety of programs and international development organizations. Jenni is passionate about the importance of good quality data that is useful for program decision making collected and managed through processes designed to minimize additional administrative tasks usually associated with MEL. She has designed, developed, implemented, and managed or provided technical assistance to the management of the monitoring and evaluation of various international development projects in diverse conditions internationally. Despite having worked in more than 26 countries, her home and heart are rooted on the African continent.

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Tel: 202-589-2600
Email: iesc@iesc.org

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