Nora Brown is an international development professional with more than two decades of experience designing, implementing, and managing innovation projects for a variety of clients including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and International Finance Corporation (IFC). Throughout her career, she has focused on innovation, trade, entrepreneurship, and investment to achieve development outcomes and has held a variety of technical, operational, and leadership roles.

Nora currently serves as a Senior Lead Specialist in DAI’s Economic Growth Team. Previously, she worked as the Chief of Party on INVEST, the USAID flagship buy-in program that leveraged donor, investor, and corporate capital, mobilizing more than $1.6B towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Nora provided project-wide management and technical direction for a portfolio of 70 distinct buy-in activities from 39 Missions, Bureaus and Independent Offices across USAID covering key topics such as trade, investment and blended finance, with multiple USAID buy-in clients, and worked closely with the Operations and Finance team to ensure fiscal and operational efficiencies.

Prior to this role, Nora served as Chief of Party of USAID Vietnam Urban Energy Security, a project focused on deploying advanced and distributed energy solutions in urban settings through technical assistance and investment mobilization. Nora previously served as Chief of Party for the USAID Center for Development Innovation project and the USAID Grand Challenges for Development contract.

Before joining DAI, Nora served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Global Business School Network, a nonprofit she helped found, and worked in the field of finance, managing the investment portfolios of private clients for UBS.

• B.A., international studies, Johns Hopkins University
• M.A., international relations and economics, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies