Sharon Van Pelt

Sharon Van Pelt has 27 years of global experience in political dialogue, policy reform, civic engagement and advocacy, local governance, and conflict prevention. She currently leads Chemonics’ DG Practice including $400 million global project portfolio, a $550 million Rule of Law framework contract, and the Center for Politically Informed Programming, which she founded and supervises. As a Certified Performance Technologist for the International Society for Performance Improvement, she trains staff globally on capacity development, including problem-driven iterative adaptation. While a Foreign Service Officer, she received the USAID Meritorious Honor Award for advancing policy dialogue on decentralization and transparency during the Guatemala peace process. Ms. Van Pelt served as chief of party for an MCC-funded project in Moldova; director of governance for counter-extremism and peace-building programs in francophone Africa; and advocacy advisor in Bangladesh and Nigeria. Ms. Van Pelt holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rutgers University and a master’s degree in international development from American University.