Rachel Blum is a Youth and Workforce Development Technical Specialist in USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment (E3). She provides technical support to field Missions in the area of youth employment and... more skills development, and manages an initiative that is developing a youth research and evaluation agenda for USAID’s Office of Education. Prior to this role, Rachel served as Senior Economic Technical Advisor at CHF International, where she supported 20 field offices in the areas of youth employment, value chain development, food security, and household economic strengthening. She was also the Program Manager of the CHF/USAID Cooperative Development Program. Previously she served as Country Director in Azerbaijan and Kosovo. Globally she has provided technical assistance to over twenty countries worldwide. Rachel holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Georgetown University. less

Karen Brooks is Director, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets. Brooks has worked for the World Bank for the past 20 years. For the last 10 years of her tenure there, she managed analytical and... more operational programs in agriculture and rural development for the Africa region. Brooks also worked extensively in Europe and Central Asia and in Africa; in the former on issues related to the transition from central planning and in the latter on the investment and policy agenda associated with the renewed commitment to agricultural growth. Prior to joining the World Bank, she was Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. Brooks received both her PhD and Master’s degrees in Economics from the University of Chicago, where she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow. less

David Feige is Director of Economic Growth and New Business at Making Cents International. He brings to the position 12 years of experience in technical, business development and project management roles for a wide range of donor... more and non-donor clients. His expertise includes value chain development; competitiveness analysis; MSME development; entrepreneurship; local economic development; and livelihoods interventions. David comes to Making Cents from J.E. Austin Associates, a specialized economic development consultancy, where he spent nearly five years conducting technical work in Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Prior to joining J.E. Austin, David was an Economic Development Officer at International Relief and Development, where he backstopped projects in Serbia and Montenegro and Lebanon. Before coming to Washington, D.C., David devoted most of his time to field work, first as a Peace Corps Volunteer in El Salvador and later on the USAID-funded Central Asia Enterprise Development Project, where he was based in Kazakhstan. He also worked for a small, Seattle-based nonprofit that provided technical assistance to social enterprises in the developing world. David received his MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and his BS in Business Administration from Miami University of Ohio. David's recent work with Making Cents includes youth-inclusive value chain development in Kenya and technical backstopping for projects in Georgia and Nigeria. He is also responsible for the rural spotlight at this year's Youth Economic Opportunities Conference. less

Carol Michaels O’Laughlin is Group Vice President, Empowerment and Civic Engagement (ECE) at Winrock International. Carol has devoted 40+ years to international development and relations working with not for profit, public and... more private sector organizations. Among her areas of specialization are employment and micro-enterprise development; grassroots development; institutional development, corporate social responsibility; building indigenous philanthropy; women empowerment; youth leadership and education. Carol directs Winrock’s ECE Group focused on gender equality and women’s empowerment, capacity building and leadership; and social protection. Programs include women’s social, economic and political development; employment and enterprise development; anti-trafficking in persons; formal and non-formal education; children labor prevention; and governance and NGO capacity building. Prior to joining Winrock Carol served as Executive Director of Global Alliance for Workers and Communities, a tri-sector initiative to improve the lives and prospects of workers, mostly young women, in the global supply chain. Other positions include: Vice President for Partner Development and Grants, International Youth Foundation; Senior Foundation representative, Inter-American Foundation; and International Affairs and Grassroots Development Officer, Lilly Endowment. less