Senior Vice President, U.S. Government Business
As Head of DAI’s U.S. Government Business (USG), Sarah Helmstadter is responsible for establishing the unit’s strategic vision, achieving its growth targets, and ensuring the effective delivery of DAI development solutions for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. State Department, and other U.S. Government clients. The USG business unit is DAI’s largest, typically employing some 5,000 staff on 100 or more projects across five key technical areas. The portfolio includes many of USAID’s largest, most ambitious, and most sensitive programs.
Sarah has dedicated her career to the task of shaping a more livable world through high-impact development programming, often implemented in complex, conflict-affected settings and socially unstable environments.
With DAI since 2007, Sarah has held crosscutting leadership positions in business development, program implementation, recruitment, and corporate services. Her first executive role was as Regional Vice President for USG programs in Africa. Later, as Senior Vice President, Global Workforce, she led all aspects of talent acquisition, retention, development, and management, while overseeing global human resources and the companywide security function. Before assuming her present role, Sarah served as Chief Operating Officer for the USG Business, accountable for project delivery and technical excellence across all programming.
Sarah began her career in international development working on privatization efforts in Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Ukraine. She is fluent in Russian and French.