Brooke Estes

Managed a $130M portfolio of education and workforce development programs, shaping investment strategy, overseeing portfolio performance, and managing a cross-functional team.
Oversaw complex, multi-million-dollar, multi-year grants, strengthening grantee performance and reducing risk through rigorous due diligence, hands-on relationship management, and data-driven performance monitoring.

• Led a blended finance pilot that leveraged $1M in public funding to unlock $4.7M in private investment, expanding quality education for 66,000 low-income students across 200 schools and building evidence on scalable, market-driven models for improving school performance.

• Researched emerging edtech and designed a $5M AI-powered program to introduce adaptive technology into underperforming schools, enabling differentiated literacy instruction in resource-constrained classrooms.

• Led an $8M industry-aligned workforce training program to improve economic mobility pathways for 16,000 youth, engaging employers, vocational institutions, and youth organizations in program design and securing $750K in new funding to expand into additional sectors.

• Convened U.S. and Kenyan government agencies, universities, and private-sector partners to co-design partnerships, shared curricula, and exchange programs in data science and semiconductor manufacturing, positioning both systems to build talent pipelines in strategic growth sectors.

• Advised senior leaders at Kenya’s Open University on synthesizing data and strategy into a compelling business case, strengthening negotiations with U.S. institutions and positioning OUK to scale low-cost, high-quality higher education access to 3.5M youth.

• Established rigorous performance monitoring and evaluation strategies and translated complex program data into clear, actionable materials for the Ambassador, Mission Director, and Agency leadership, directly informing funding decisions and strategic shifts across the education and workforce portfolio.

Led data-driven strategy and technical assistance for regional education teams and partners, turning research and program evidence into actionable guidance on program design, implementation, and performance improvement.

• Synthesized global research and program evidence into executive briefings and presentations, shaping a U.S. Government-wide investment strategy affecting 25.4M learners and workforce participants.

• Redesigned the implementation strategy for a $36M education grant serving 450,000 vulnerable learners in a protracted conflict and economic crisis, using data analysis and stakeholder consultations to streamline delivery, expand services for learners with disabilities, and secure new funding.

• Delivered targeted technical assistance to 10+ independent offices, strengthening grant application review, program planning, implementation, staff training, and data analysis, helping teams resolve design and implementation issues in real time.

• Built Agency capacity to manage a rapidly expanding portfolio of early childhood education investments, synthesizing evidence to design and deliver a new staff training program that was adopted to train staff across USAID’s field offices.

• Facilitated intensive, high-stakes board meetings for senior leaders; providing board member orientation, moderating meetings, and driving timely decisions; conducted an after-action review and recommended changes to improve subsequent board effectiveness.

Launched and managed a multi-stakeholder philanthropic alliance, coordinating a collaborative strategy across 12 partner organizations and advising on governance, grantmaking and implementation.

• Developed a shared investment strategy, governance framework, and performance management system for the alliance, including a dashboard that aligned partner activities and enabled data-driven decision-making by a multi-stakeholder Steering Committee.

• Oversaw a portfolio of 11 pilot programs that tested the effectiveness of results-based financing models to address systemic education challenges, identifying scalable solutions and contributing to national-level scale-up in Cambodia.

• Facilitated collaborative funding initiatives to expand investment in high-quality, local-language learning materials, supporting production of 2,250 new titles in 30 languages and a 6,200-book repository used by practitioners and ministries.

• Designed in-depth market systems analysis for educational materials that drove data-led decision-making in 8 countries, informing procurement, distribution, and policy discussions.

• Curated and translated research and best practices on teaching and learning materials into briefs, reports, presentations, talking points, social media, and guidance documents that informed policy and practice, and represented the organization at conferences and public fora to position it as a leader in this space.

• Provided both remote and in-person technical assistance on primary education programming to USAID missions across Africa, Asia and Latin America, advising on program design, country strategies, and data use, and contributing to global policies and guidance for evidence-based programming.

• Served as an activity manager and subject matter expert for research, training, systems strengthening, and foundational skills initiatives across the Center for Education, ensuring outputs were operationally useful for field missions and aligned with Agency priorities.

Managed USAID-funded global development programs, using data analysis to inform strategic planning and program operations across multiple initiatives while supervising staff, consultants and interns.

• Achieved exceptional client performance ratings for management of the multi-million-dollar Education Support Initiative, a global technical assistance program that strengthened strategic planning, research, and operations in USAID education offices worldwide.

• Analyzed data on $31B in public-private partnerships across 71 operating units, synthesizing findings into reports and data visualizations that informed federal reporting and guided Agency-wide strategic planning.

• Led program operations and problem-solving across concurrent global initiatives, using data to identify risks, adjust workplans, and ensure high-quality delivery on time and within budget.

• Supported new business development, conducting research and contributing to competitive proposals for federal funding opportunities.

Conducted research and synthesized literature to inform strategic investments in agricultural services across multiple countries.

•  Identified and analyzed relevant academic and grey literature, managed the project database and research documentation, and synthesized findings into practical insights that informed significant investment decisions and program design.

Conducted research and synthesized literature to inform strategic investments in agricultural services across multiple countries.

•  Identified and analyzed relevant academic and grey literature, managed the project database and research documentation, and synthesized findings into practical insights that informed significant investment decisions and program design.

Analyzed market and program data to inform affordable housing finance strategies and strengthen Habitat's housing market development portfolio.

• Analyzed market research data to identify opportunities to reduce poverty through more equitable housing markets, synthesizing findings into reports, briefs and data visualizations used to guide future investment and program design.

• Authored public-facing articles that distilled lessons from housing market development initiatives, helping position HFHI as a thought leader and sharing practical insights with practitioners and donors..

• Drafted Habitat’s Housing Market Systems Analysis Toolkit, creating a practical framework teams could use to diagnose gaps to in local housing market systems and design more targeted, systems-oriented interventions.

Researched agricultural market opportunities to inform efforts to improve the livelihoods of local farmers.

• Designed and conducted field research on local market opportunities, helping facilitate commercial partnerships with local businesses and recommending avenues for ongoing engagement between farmers and potential buyers.

• Supported data collection and Spanish interpretation for a preliminary study of rural farmers' nutrition, contributing to a better understanding of consumption decisions and household well-being.

Conducted research on organizational training initiatives and led after-school programming for at-risk learners.

• Designed and implemented a qualitative study on organization-wide staff professional development synthesizing findings into actionable recommendations to the organization's executive team for directing organizational training investments.

• Planned and delivered after-school programming to support academic and socio-emotional outcomes for children of refugee families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Oversaw a 1500+ volunteer workforce supporting program operations at a local nonprofit, using data to improve strategy and performance.

• Collected and analyzed program data and participant feedback to track performance and inform strategy, leading a redesign of training curricula and operational systems that improved program performance by 20%.

• Developed, delivered, and refined orientation and training curricula that prepared volunteers for diverse assignments; restructured lengthy required training into stackable, skill-specific modules that increased accessibility and completion.

• Trained and supervised an ethnically, socio-economically, and generationally diverse volunteer team, fostering a collaborative culture and high-quality program delivery; built strong working relationships with staff across the organization to align volunteer operations with organization-wide priorities.

• Synthesized program performance data into regular reports and recommendations for the executive team, informing decisions on resourcing, staffing, and program adjustments.

Led diverse groups of volunteers to address gaps in affordable housing, helping build 116 homes for low-income families in two US cities.

• Independently managed multiple simultaneous work sites, monitoring progress and prioritizing/adapting activities to ensure safe, on-time completion of construction and volunteer engagement goals aligned with long-term organizational priorities.

• Provided orientation, training and performance management for 3,000+ volunteers, cultivating engagement among volunteers and community members from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds and maintaining high standards of quality and safety.