Kristine Cronin

● Led USAID’s first innovation and tech hub, a $150M business unit with 120+ staff, driving strategy, people, and processes to scale innovation agencywide, resulting in USAID leveraging more private sector funding and investing in more cost-effective programs, including those with average $10:1 leverage and 17:1 social ROI.

● Secured $30M in new programming and stood up new Office of Digital Technology in under 6 months by making the business case to policymakers, legislators, and private sector partners (Mozilla, Microsoft, Google, Gates) to increase investments in emerging tech including AI to improve outcomes.

● Steered diverse executive team through departmental reorganizations and largest budget cuts in agency history, setting strategic vision, advising on tradeoffs, and championing new partnerships, ensuring Hub continued to achieve goals with constrained resources.

● Established internal priority to improve operational effectiveness and organizational health, advancing initiatives (“unconference” team learning, listening sessions, portfolio reviews) that strengthened culture and collaboration essential to an innovation hub.

● Promoted to lead budget management and legislative affairs for newly reorganized $750M+ portfolio combining 3 bureaus across 10 global offices, responsible for allocating, monitoring, and advocating for resources to achieve strategic objectives.

● Stood up new program office, designing and building integrated systems for strategy, budget, and performance management to re-align resources with strategic priorities and establish organizational infrastructure that enabled more adaptive management.

● Led procurement and management of complex, cross-organizational $95M contract to bring science and tech experts to agency, introducing new SOPs and systems to mitigate risk, ensure compliance, and improve service delivery.

● Led business unit responsible for strategic planning, policy coordination, and budget management across 20 Lab teams, effectively leveraging $125M to increase the use of science and tech innovation to accelerate development results.

● Designed and implemented Lab’s first 5-year Strategic Plan and performance management system, which improved the use of data for strategic adaptation, continuous learning, and results communication.

● Developed innovative MERLIN program, engaging new partners in tech and social impact to co-design and pilot cutting-edge evaluation approaches, increasing adoption of new methods across global programs.

● Managed monitoring and evaluation workstreams for two large, complex $80M UK aid programs in Sudan and Nigeria, leading diverse field teams of 8-10 staff to integrate new approaches to improve public service delivery and access to justice outcomes.

● Generated $3.5M in new business by designing innovative proposals and market entry strategies, including use of emerging technologies like GIS for improved data analytics.

● Built partner capacity for data-informed decision making and results communication, leading to an additional $15M in program funding.

● Managed $15M grant portfolio of 100 social enterprises and agribusinesses across six African countries, leading the full grant lifecycle from sourcing to evaluation.

● Provided technical assistance to businesses to enhance production, financial management, and social impact, which created jobs, generated $28M in revenue, and improved the lives of 420,000 people in marginalized communities.

● Mobilized over $1M in new investments in agro-processing, microfinance, and manufacturing ventures through on-the-ground business development.

● Co-authored two flagship publications: Financial Access 2010 (CGAP) and Impact Evaluations in Practice (Gertler et al., 2010), both widely adopted across donor communities.

● Led a nationwide Girls in Development, Education and Health program, which subsequently raised $70K in follow-on funding and was institutionalized by local partners.

● Supported a $20M corporate philanthropy portfolio to advance STEM education for girls, and coordinated grantmaking and employee volunteer initiatives, enhancing brand reputation and community impact.