Brenna Carmen McKay

Advised USAID leadership on food security, climate-smart agriculture, rural development, and private sector engagement across multiple supply chains. Identified new partners, designed activities, conducted technical analysis, and provided targeted sustainability expertise to public and private stakeholders.

Developed economic resilience strategy for Ecuador and implemented the strategy through (1) developing and managing a $6 million sourcing transformation project with Ecuador’s largest supermarket retailer resulting in 4x income gains for smallholder farmers and first-time access to credit and (2) providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Economy and Finance to access $1 billion in concessional financing from the IMF by implementing climate resilience reforms. Invited by the Council on Foreign Relations to present on the strategy.

Led cross-collaboration among five US government agencies to develop a partnership portfolio for eleven Caribbean nations related to climate smart technology adoption, meeting food safety standards to export to the US, increasing food production, streamlining logistics, assessing parametric based insurance products, and increasing participation of women and youth in agriculture.

Provided ongoing technical expertise to developing USAID/Guatemala’s partnership portfolio including new relationships to develop biofortified maize seed for smallholder farmer adoption and a $20 million Feed the Future grant for food systems integration focusing on skill development for agricultural production, new markets, climate smart solutions, and chronic malnutrition to increase production in high-value export crops.

Secured $64 million in new funding to mitigate projected food and fertilizer shortages after presenting to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Served as strategic advisor to PepsiCo global sustainability leadership on inclusive value chains, regenerative agriculture, and KPI alignment via $20 million partnership with PepsiCo and USAID on making the business case for women’s economic empowerment to strengthen supply chains in Colombia, India, Pakistan, and Vietnam. Responsible for developing and leading country-specific strategies, designing communications products, creating executive presentations and trend analysis, relationship management.

Participated in co-creation and design of partnership; wrote winning technical proposal; led technical activity design with PepsiCo global and local teams including $2 million partnership fund.

Oversaw development of supply chain assessments incorporating PepsiCo corporate KPIs and proposed new indicators for women’s empowerment to identify barriers and opportunities to increase business outcomes on PepsiCo supplier farms.

Advised PepsiCo, World Economic Forum, and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) on strategic development of a food systems innovation hub.

Advised USAID on partnering strategies with multinational corporations. Facilitated partnership workshop with John Deere and USAID country offices to identify joint milestones for bringing mechanization to farmers in Ethiopia and Nigeria.

Led the Feed the Future Innovative Solutions for Agricultural Value Chains project, a new corporate initiative, for Guatemalan agribusiness company to increase technology adoption and open new markets for 35,000 suppliers. Developed and led strategic vision for horticulture supply chains integrating farmers and exporters through rural extension, market facilitation, climate smart agriculture, and food safety compliance trainings. Managed relationship with USAID, USDA, and Popoyán board of directors.

Oversaw development of e-commerce platform to introduce a marketplace for technical assistance and agricultural technology which gave farmers access to training, technical advice, and inputs during the pandemic.

Built team of 100 and directly supervised seven senior staff members to develop work plans and field protocols in line with market demands.

Designed $10 million grant fund to co-invest with companies sourcing from smallholders to improve farmer livelihoods including biofortified maize seed, expanding organic coffee production, introducing diversified crops to new geographies, and transforming the supply chain for value-added frozen broccoli and cauliflower.  

Served as spokesperson for project conducting print and TV interviews, speaking on panels, and delivering presentations at high profile events, conferences, and field days.

Developed performance-based milestones tied to strategy and monitored performance quarterly.

Designed strategy for a $52 million grant fund to incentivize private sector companies to introduce game-changing technologies in smallholder markets to address climate and food security challenges. Led smallholder market systems work in Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Zambia.

Developed partnership application and evaluation process which resulted in directly negotiating $20 million worth of partnerships with companies and NGOs worldwide to expand technology access to nearly 500,000 smallholder farmers.

Managed relationships with companies to provide guidance, ensure partnership quality, and conducted site visits to monitor farm operations. 

Managed a $6 million partnership portfolio in Guatemala aimed at integrating private sector actors and smallholder farmers through adopting digital traceability systems, biological control solutions for soil health, improved potato seed, and cold storage. Negotiated and managed Concordia P3Impact finalist Popoyán for the introduction and scale of biological control products to isolated rural farmers.

Spearheaded the AgBio Lab, an intimate conference for bio tech companies in Latin America to understand market trends, policy challenges, investment opportunities, and connections for business growth which resulted in new market opportunities and an industry alliance in Colombia.

Member of senior management team of a $25 million USAID-funded policy reform project. Responsible for the development and execution of a $5 million grants component aimed at enhancing the private sector’s role in advocating for trade and enabling environment reforms.

Single-handedly responsible for compliance with USAID regulations and Chemonics local implementation policies. Built systems to track and enforce regulations specific to US-government funded programming in the West Bank. Passed external audit with zero findings.

Oversaw day-to-day operations of a twenty-person office including grants, operations, procurement, compliance, and finance team.

Designed an integrated development strategy for southern Colombia to provide community infrastructure projects and diverse economic opportunities as an alternative to coca growing in conflict zones.

Concurrently managed large-scale ($50 million) USAID-funded projects managing complex relationships in a fast-paced, highly politicized environment;  provided day-to-day guidance and backstopping to field offices through negotiating and managing local and US subcontractors, ensuring work plan activities were in line with contract goals, and managed project budget; and, supervised staff and took active role in monitoring performance, creating professional development plans, and mentoring new team members.