Mai

Full CV / Resume

SUMMARY: Self-directed international development professional with experience building cross-cultural teams, monitoring and assessing government funded humanitarian activities, and performance reporting on overseas operations. Inherently adept at integrating into different cultures and living and working in difficult environments. Skilled in creating a spirit of collaboration and maintaining team cohesion and morale in high pressure situations. Operated effectively in eastern Europe, the Middle East, Sub-Sahara Africa, southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Avid community and social development enthusiast.

United States Agency for International Development (USAID):

Papua New Guinea 9/2021 to 9/2022

• Supervised performance of programs supporting environment, biodiversity and disaster response in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

• Led production of written products to Congress and the Development Assistance Agreement between USAID and the Government of Papua New Guinea.

• Designed the monitoring, evaluation, and learning activity for the Pacific Island countries, including the public request for proposals.

Washington, DC 8/2018 to 8/2021

• Launched new learning, outreach and education approaches to advance increased awareness of the USAID Office of Security’s (SEC) services. Efforts contributed to SEC’s lead on an Agency-driven command center ing COVID-19.

• Increased operational support to USAID contractors working overseas by 50 percent by building a community of practice and

information sharing platform.

• Strengthened USAID engagements with international donors, private sector, and other government agencies resulting in the collaboration on safety training for and host country personnel.

Nigeria 6/2015- 6/2018

• Built up a key office to full capacity which at the time, severely lacked resources. Researched and secured solutions for interim support, managed the on-boarding process, and provided training for new employees.

• Revitalized capacity building of host country nationals and local firms and universities in the areas of performance monitoring.

• Led lessons learned and feedback sessions on fundamental operations leading to improvements in reporting, outreach and communications, and event planning processes.

Afghanistan: 6/2013-6/2015

• As team lead for the USAID Regional Coordination Unit based in Kabul, supported the successful drawdown of programs and operations of five USAID regional platforms in Afghanistan.

• Active participant, serving USAID’s interests, in an international forum that included other donors, military, and private sector supporting Afghanistan’s decade of transformation.

• Mentored Afghan colleagues in developing local data sources as a tool for program oversight. These efforts resulted in the development of a new multi-tiered monitoring approach currently used worldwide.

Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA), Thailand: 9/2010- 4/2013

• Designed and launched USAID’s first Student Mobile Application Design Contest, promoting USAID Science and Technology and Local Capacity Development pillars.

• Increased RDMA’s monitoring and evaluation capacity by creating the first USAID-led regional expert network involving Bangkok’s broader monitoring and evaluation community of practice.

Pakistan: 6/2009-8/2010

• Contributed to the formulation of a new government strategy focused on capacity building of local government, communities, and non-governmental organizations in priority regions in the Asia and Middle East region.

• Supported USAID core program operating unit functions to ensure conformity of government priorities, USAID strategy, Foreign Assistance, and policy directives.

Education and Certifications

• Masters, Business Administration, University of Tennessee, Knoxville


• BS, Kinesiology, University of California, Los Angeles


• Certified USAID Agreement Contracting Officer Representative

• Children’s reading, arts, and recreation program: Vadavada settlement, Papua New Guinea


• Conversational English as a second language (on-line): Campagna Center, Alexandria, VA; Catholic Diocese, Arlington, VA


• Uniting Communities through Sports: Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Abuja, Nigeria


• Feed the Homeless, Salvation Army; Dallas, TX