Staff

Jennifer Potter | President & CEO

Kristen Dailey | Chief Operating Officer and Vice President, AgInvest
Katherine Switz | Vice President, Frontier 100

Jeri Jensen | Senior Director, Policy
Emmas Lindsay | Executive Assistant and Office Manager
David Reynolds | Director, Finance & Human Resources
Jaren Schwartz | Corporate Relations & Events Manager
Allison Spector | Senior Associate, Frontier 100
Jenna Swalin | Communications Coordinator
Jumaane Tafawa | Director, Frontier 100

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Jennifer Potter | President & CEO

Jennifer Potter has provided executive leadership of the Initiative for Global Development (IGD) since its incorporation in 2007. IGD is an influential network of business leaders sharing a common vision of ending global poverty through sustainable economic growth.

Jennifer is a principal in the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) and a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy. She has represented IGD at the Clinton Global Initiative and the Brookings Blum Roundtable and contributed to U.S. in the World: Talking Global Issues with Americans, a communications guide published by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Aspen Institute.

Prior to leading IGD, Jennifer served as Executive Director of Global Partnerships, an organization that pioneered microfinance work in Central America. Her early career included service in the Peace Corps in Thailand and ownership of urban planning and development companies. Jennifer chaired the board of the award-winning Seattle Housing Authority for eight years, serves on the advisory board of Global Washington, and is a director of Harbor Properties and Chatham University.

Download Jennifer Potter's complete bio

Megan Bowman | Vice President, Policy

Megan oversees IGD’s efforts to leverage the voice of business in advocating for more effective U.S. global development policies. Megan has worked with IGD since 2002 when she served as a consultant during the formation of the organization. She joined IGD’s staff full-time in the fall of 2005 to lead its public policy and advocacy work.

Megan has over 20 years experience in international public policy and government relations and has worked in business, government and the nonprofit sector. She began her career in Washington D.C. working in the Congress on foreign affairs and trade issues. After returning to Seattle, she spent several years at Microsoft helping build their government affairs effort. Following her tenure at Microsoft, Megan joined APCO Worldwide, the global public affairs firm, as a vice president overseeing accounts for nonprofit clients with international interests, particularly in the field of global health. Megan graduated from Yale University and has an MA in international affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Shamra Clark | Vice President, Development

Shamra leads resource development for IGD and ensures the organization’s capacity to advance private and public investments to reduce poverty. She has ten years of experience working with individuals, corporations and foundations to raise support for sustainable causes. Before joining IGD in 2011, Shamra served as Vice President of Development at Cascade Land Conservancy, an organization that pioneers market-based conservation and community building solutions in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to that, she worked in communications and fundraising at the National Audubon Society. Shamra has a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Western Washington University.

Kristen Dailey | Chief Operating Officer and Vice President, AgInvest

Kristen joined IGD in 2001 and helped the organization develop into a strong network of business leaders. She directs AgInvest and oversees all operations, strategic planning, recruitment and outreach.

Kristen has been involved with international development issues for more than 15 years. Her professional background includes fundraising at the United Nations Foundation in Washington D.C., working with low-income refugee and immigrant families in Seattle, and heading a regional advocacy coalition of international relief and development organizations in the state of Washington.

She has lived in the Dominican Republic and traveled to Vietnam, Thailand, India, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador to research microcredit and health programs. She has an MPA from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.

Jeri Jensen | Senior Director, Policy

Jeri leads IGD’s efforts to engage business in helping shape global development policies to increase economic growth in developing countries. She has more than twenty years of experience working on global development and trade issues in Washington, DC.

Most recently, Jeri was Managing Director for Private Sector Initiatives at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, where she was responsible for helping MCC countries leverage grant funding with the private sector and attract investment to MCC projects. During almost two decades at the U.S. Department of Commerce as well as positions with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the National Security Council and the U.S. Export-Import Bank, she worked on global trade policy and finance issues including capacity building for developing countries, negotiating and implementing trade promotion agreements, coordinating U.S. trade, development and finance programs and fostering engagement between U.S. businesses and the federal government. Jeri earned an MS in foreign service from Georgetown University and a BA in political science from Northwestern University.

Emmas Lindsay | Executive Assistant and Office Manager

Emmas assists President & CEO Jennifer Potter and manages the IGD office. She has lived and studied in Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, England and the United States. After volunteering with the Red Cross in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, she continues to believe that many small individual efforts can make a huge difference to the lives of others. Emmas is committed to helping make a positive change in our world.

David Reynolds | Director, Finance & Human Resources

David is responsible for all treasury, finance, and human resource functions for IGD. He holds a CPA certificate and has an MBA from the University of Tulsa. He held several accounting and financial management positions for manufacturing and healthcare organizations before founding his own company in 1992. David came to IGD after selling his company to a venture capital group in 2006.

Allison works across the Frontier 100 program on recruitment, events and communications and manages ICT and North Africa projects.  She has experience in sustainable economic development and microfinance, having worked with both public and private organizations in the U.S. and China.  Most recently, she led business development and strategy as the new business manager of Development Solutions, a sustainable development consultancy in Beijing.  Prior to this, Allison managed donor-funded microfinance projects for PlaNet Finance China and co-founded a China-focused non-profit microfinance intermediary.  She currently serves on the international advisory board of PlaNet Finance’s Microfinance Plus initiative.  Allison graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Emory University, and holds a dual MSc in sustainable development and rural development from SOAS, University of London.

Katherine Switz | Vice President, Frontier 100

Katherine leads IGD’s efforts to catalyze business participation in poverty reduction. Katherine has extensive experience in the commercial, nonprofit and public sectors engaging business to reduce poverty. Most recently, Katherine was a vice president at Unitus, where she was charged with Africa expansion, global network management and strategy.

Prior to that, Katherine worked for GE Capital, developing a comprehensive strategy for a startup business providing financial services to energy companies globally. Katherine was also a consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she advised clients in a range of industries on strategy, organization and operations. Katherine served as a project manager at the International Finance Corporation in Russia. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Dartmouth College.

Jumaane Tafawa | Director, Frontier 100

Jumaane works closely with Frontier 100 CEOs to grow their businesses and reduce poverty. Jumaane brings a variety of experience to IGD from the private, government and nonprofit sectors. He was a strategy consultant at FSG Social Impact Advisors, where he developed strategies for Fortune 500 companies and foundations. He was also a management consultant and improved the effectiveness of multiple private sector development projects sponsored by multilateral organizations, such as the International Finance Corporation (World Bank) and various governments in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Jumaane has entrepreneurial expertise from successfully starting three organizations and holds an MPA in international development from Harvard University.