Who We Are

Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr is the director of Columbia World Projects and Executive Vice President for Columbia Global. She is also the founder and director of ICAP at Columbia University and...

Cristiane Costa brings more than 20 years of experience designing and managing complex global development programs. As CWP’s Chief Operating Officer, she focuses on transforming organizational...

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...

Peter has over 25 years of experience designing, implementing, and directing highly impactful public health and social development programs in the U.S. and internationally.

Cassandra joined Columbia World Projects (CWP) at its inception in October 2017. During the first three years she worked on the project’s team helping to build programmatic frameworks...

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...

Hiba Bou Akar is an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, and is leading GSAPP’s newly-established Post-Conflict...

Jonathan Papoulidis is Global Director of Fragility and Resilience, Food for the Hungry Inc. where he provides broad leadership on the Agency’s policy, programming and partnerships for...

Partha Chatterjee is a political theorist, political anthropologist and historian. He graduated from Presidency College, Calcutta, and received his PhD from the University of Rochester.

Yuen Yuen Ang is a political scientist at the University of Michigan and an expert on China and emerging economies. Professor Ang was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow for...

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.

Sarah comes to Columbia World Projects from the Center for Climate Systems Research at the Earth Institute, where she was the Administrative Coordinator for over five years.

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...

Aneka joined Columbia World Projects in May 2022. Prior to joining, she worked at Avenues: The World School where she was the Program Operations Manager – Global Extensions.

Lisa joined Columbia World Projects in 2018. She was previously a Vice President at Goldman Sachs where she was head of employee community engagement, leading the creation of pro...

Daniella joined Columbia World Project in July 2022 after over a decade at the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), directing the International Dissertation Research Fellowship Program...

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 joined Columbia World Projects in 2019.  Previously, she worked at Trinity Wall Street where she coordinated justice, advocacy, and outreach programming on a range...

Marissa joined Columbia World Projects in October of 2022. Prior to joining CWP, she served as the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Specialist for the global digital music group...

Christine Hunt has over a decade of experience in global health and public service specifically around partnership engagement and the management of both international projects and collaborative...

Ariam L. Torres Cordero joined Columbia World Projects as a Postdoctoral Research Scholar to support and advance research and engagement initiatives in urban and water governance, climate...

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...

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...

Yamir joined Columbia World Projects as a Project Officer in July 2022. Prior to joining CWP, Yamir was a Program Manager at the Silver School of Social Work at New York University where...

Thomas Asher is director of research and engagement at Columbia World Projects. In that capacity he builds networks that gather researchers, practitioners, and government officials...

Ron Kassimir is Senior Advisor at Columbia World Projects, providing leadership and support for the Research and Engagement portfolio of work. He previously served as Vice President...

Anna came to Columbia World Projects from the American Council of Learned Societies, where she administered fellowship programs aimed at strengthening scholarship in the humanities.

Madeline Neighly is the Executive Director of the Columbia Center for Political Economy at Columbia World Projects. 

Darragh joined Columbia World Projects in 2020. Prior to this, she worked in senior management and organizational strategy roles driving multi-sectoral partnerships and building innovative...

Nicolas has over 10 years of experience in designing, implementing and managing evidence-based public health and social development programs in the United States and internationally.