Farida Ibrahim

• Steward a first-in-Vermont $2B infrastructure and housing initiative by managing high-stakes engagement with municipalities and developers while safeguarding public investment and advancing statewide housing and economic development goals, complemented by ongoing research into infrastructure financing, housing policy, and regional development needs to rapidly build subject-matter expertise and inform program design in an emerging policy landscape 

• Identify, engage, and align program outreach with complementary statewide initiatives such as Let’s Build Homes and Ride Your Bike to strengthen cross-program coordination, broaden stakeholder engagement, and amplify collective impact across housing and infrastructure efforts 

• Serve as primary external liaison for municipalities, translating program requirements into actionable guidance and building trust across public, private, and state stakeholders in a new and complex program

• Produce weekly strategic briefings for the Governor’s Office, legislative response materials, and public-facing communications—including Q&As and technical one-pagers—to translate complex infrastructure financing into accessible guidance for diverse audiences

• Lead community-facing briefings and deep-dive working sessions with municipal leaders to identify local priorities, clarify program requirements, and develop risk mitigation strategies to strengthen project viability and build durable public support 

• Build and manage cross-sector partnerships with state funders, land banks, bond banks, and capital providers to design tailored infrastructure financing options that help municipalities assemble viable project funding stacks and advance infrastructure building 

• Conduct structured intake and feasibility assessments through site visits and consultations, advising local officials on capital planning, tax stabilization, and financial structuring through pro formas 

• Developed and manage an internal stakeholder tracking system to capture insights from informal meetings and calls with municipalities and developers—including application interest, permitting challenges, and project barriers—and translate findings into actionable items for weekly team meetings

Energy and Infrastructure Program Team Lead, Ukraine – December 2024 – September 2025

• Led a cross-functional team of 10 to oversee $3B in energy/infrastructure grants and contracts, successfully “keeping the lights on” across Ukraine during relentless nightly bombing campaigns

• Planned, organized, and executed $1.5B in transportation regulation projects in a challenging wartime environment, requiring constant adaptability to juggle multiple work streams and keep projects on track, resulting in the adoption of EU regulations that make Ukraine more competitive in the global market

• Conducted regular risk assessments, weighing factors such as conflict dynamics and economic volatility, to design contingency plans and encourage taking “smart risks” when potential benefits outweigh costs

• Provided strategic guidance, led visits with foreign government officials, managed complex donor coordination, conducted analysis and drafted policy inputs, and supported communications and outreach

• Oversaw all portfolio budgeting processes including planning, pipelines, projections, reporting, and reallocations, thus directly influencing billion-dollar funding decisions at the highest level

• Coordinated and drafted Mission responses to congressional queries on high-stakes topics, successfully demonstrating an ability to produce high quality products under short deadlines

Democracy and Governance Program Team Lead, El Salvador – February 2022 – November 2024

• Managed the funding announcement process for all Democracy/Governance activities ($45M), including drafting the scope of work, leading the application selection process, negotiating budget line items, approving Annual Workplans to include Monitoring and Evaluation, and selecting key personnel 

• Led a year’s long negotiation with over a dozen independent media organizations across Central America, launching a self-sustainable media network supporting threatened journalists/activists 

• Led the design and implementation of a $4M regional labor activity, integrating complex U.S. government policy into a comprehensive regional approach to maximize the impact of limited funding

• Led a $5M outcome evaluation and analyzed data to provide qualitative and quantitative recommendations, increasing program target achievement and securing $20M in additional funds 

• Served on an elections monitoring team, monitoring elections processes to ensure transparency

• Effectively led recruitment processes that resulted in the placement of 4 additional team members, meeting the team’s staffing plan/needs.

Deputy Director/Deputy Mission Director, Timor-Leste – February 2020 – January 2022                                                      

• Led the development of USAID’s $100M Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), coordinating across interagency stakeholders, local partners, and technical teams to produce a five-year strategic framework aligned with host government priorities and U.S. foreign policy objectives

• In coordination with the U.S. military, managed $3M in COVID assistance, successfully procuring and delivering vaccines with an 85% vaccination rate 

• Worked to advance U.S. trade policy through high level government to government negotiations, unlocking more than $1M in increased regional trade for U.S. companies

• Led field research, monitoring, and reporting to include the Combating Trafficking in Persons report

• Advised technical teams designing women and youth ($7.5M), private sector strengthening ($2.5M), NGO capacity building ($10M), good governance ($10M), and trade governance ($11M) activities, increasing the Mission’s annual budget by 55%

• Served as Development Outreach and Communications lead, streamlining external messaging and increasing content production by 45% while producing policy briefs, memos, factsheets, and press materials that distilled complex information into clear, decision-driving insights 

Program Officer, India – August 2018 – January 2020

• Developed Geographic Information System (GIS) policies/procedures for a $500M portfolio, resulting in improved data collection and analysis, leading to a 35% greater impact 

• Played a leadership role in teaching, coaching, and cultivating talent to grow team skills; worked with entry and mid-level staff to develop actionable career goals and support their continuous learning, building a strong culture of teamwork and increasing staff retention by 80%

• Led the data collection and drafting of the annual Performance Plan and Report, ensuring transparency and safeguarding over $100M U.S. government funds 

Conflict Stabilization Specialist, Syria – January 2018 – July 2018

• Led a Counter-ISIS event with over 100 civilian and military experts, successfully demonstrating the ability to explain complex concepts to large and diverse audiences while handling Q&A

• Designed and led a week-long monitoring & evaluation workshop for over 100 partners, building long-term capacity for over a dozen local organizations

Localization Specialist, Libya – July 2016 – December 2017        

• Managed a $150M civil society and economic growth portfolio; oversaw monitoring and evaluation processes; conducted research to drive project designs