Staff

Nicholas Lemann directs Columbia World Projects as well as Columbia Global Reports, a book publishing venture that commissions reporting around the world on a wide range of political...

Avril Haines has taken a leave of absence from Columbia University, where she served as the Deputy Director of Columbia World Projects. Prior to joining Columbia University, Avril served...

Ira Katznelson is Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History at Columbia University. His 2013 book, "Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time," received the Bancroft...

Samantha joined Columbia World Projects in July 2018 after nearly a decade on Capitol Hill, serving as a Communications Director in both the Senate and House of Representatives and...

Before joining Columbia World Projects in 2018, Christopher was a Bosch Foundation Fellow based in Berlin. He researched media startups in Europe and North Africa for the foundation while...

Logan joined Columbia World Projects as Digital Strategist in November 2019. Prior to joining CWP, Logan was awarded a Fulbright Arts Grant to the Czech Republic and was a visiting researcher...

Thomas worked at the Social Science Research Council for 10 years directing grant and fellowship programs to strengthen global social science research capacity and networks, including...

Hollie's first book is "Democracy Reinvented: Participatory Budgeting and Civic Innovation and America." She is the co-author of the new book "Civic Power: Rebuilding American Democracy...

Abby previously worked as a research associate at the Earth Institute at Columbia University. She collaborated with the Urban Community and Health Equity Lab at Columbia to explore the...

David is an enthusiastic face-to-face fundraiser and philanthropy evangelist with 25 years of global experience across the non-profit sector. He is responsible for managing charitable...

Tony came to Columbia World Projects with more than 25 years of development and management experience from various responsibilities in public health and social service organizations.

Cheryl has more than 25 years of people, process, and program management experience in higher education and the health care and finance industries, and she returned to Columbia...

Liam has served Columbia University for two decades as a financial administrator for the Office of the President, the School of Social Work, and the university’s central Accounts Payable.

A historic preservation advocate in a former life, Sue returned to campus in 2003 to support then-Dean Nicholas Lemann at Columbia Journalism School. She has a master’s degree from Columbia's...

Katherine joined Columbia World Projects in March 2020 as Business Manager. Prior to Columbia World Projects, Katherine served as Human Resources & Faculty Affairs Generalist at the...

Marina joined Columbia World Projects in March 2019. She has dedicated most of her career to the field of grants management and has experience in pre- and post-award grants administration.

Lisa leads the Obama Foundation Scholars Program at Columbia University. She was previously a Vice President at Goldman Sachs where she was head of employee community engagement...

Zachary is the Assistant Director of the Obama Foundation Scholars Program. His prior work at Columbia University includes serving as the Manager of Communications and Projects for...

Rainah previously worked at Trinity Wall Street where she coordinated justice, advocacy, and outreach programming on a range of issues including racial equality, the arts, housing...

Abhishek is a postdoctoral research scientist at the Environmental Health Sciences department at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. He was previously a Research...

Georgette joined Columbia World Projects in August 2019 as a Post-doctoral Research Scientist. She holds a doctoral degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Kentucky.

Ann joined Columbia World Projects in April 2019 as Director, Project Management. She has spent most of her career working with non-profit and for-profit organizations and universities...

Nik is the Forum Director at Columbia World Projects. He previously served as the Counselor and Chief Speechwriter for Samantha Power, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Hillary joined Columbia World Projects in May 2018. Prior to this, she was Deputy Commissioner for International Affairs for New York City, where she developed new programs to...

Sarah joined Columbia World Projects in July 2019. As part of the project management team, she works across projects to support their success and enable project teams to productively work...

Sara joined Columbia World Projects in August 2019. Before joining the team, Sara was the Grants and Finance Manager for the Earth Institute at Columbia University, providing financial...

Lily joined Columbia World Projects in August 2019. She has worked as a global health professional with non-profit and for-profit organizations and universities to support strengthening health systems.

Cassandra is Executive Assistant to Deputy Director Avril Haines and coordinator for the research projects team. She has a master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University...