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Co-Chairs

The Coalition will be led by two senior global leaders from the public or private sector. They will provide strategic direction for the Coalition and bring the authority and experience needed to guide a complex, multi-actor global effort.

Commissioners

Our commissioners come from countries at different stages of development and with a wide range of perspectives. Together, they bring expertise from:

  • government
  • the private sector
  • civil society
  • philanthropy
  • academia

They will work closely with the co-chairs to shape the Coalition’s consultations, research, and recommendations.

Secretariat

The Coalition is supported by a secretariat, led by Alexia Latortue. The team oversees the full process — research, consultation, synthesis, and delivery — and brings deep experience in development finance, political economy, and global coalition-building.

Secretariat Staff

  • Profile picture of Alexia Latortue
    Head of Secretariat

    Alexia Latortue

    Alexia Latortue is a Distinguished Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD). Most recently, she served as the Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary for International Trade and Development at the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the Biden-Harris Administration.

    In this role, she was the top policy advisor on climate, environment, and infrastructure; development finance and policy; trade and investment; and technical assistance. Alexia conceptualized and led the implementation of an initiative to evolve the multilateral development banks to be fit for purpose to help countries address 21st-century global challenges. She also spearheaded a strategy to use public finance to mobilize private capital into emerging markets. This was Alexia’s second tenure at Treasury, having previously served under the Obama-Biden Administration as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Development Policy. In 2025, she received the Alexander Hamilton Award, Treasury’s highest award.

    Previously, Alexia was the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Deputy CEO and Managing Director for Corporate Strategy and served on the Executive Committee of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), where she drove a new strategy focused on climate, inclusion, and digital solutions, and led work preparing for an incremental expansion into Sub-Saharan Africa. Earlier, Alexia spent ten years at the World Bank working on financial inclusion, culminating in her role as Deputy CEO of CGAP. She has also held positions in private sector development, including with Development Alternatives, Inc.

    Alexia received her M.A. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and her B.S. from Georgetown University. She serves on the boards of Suez and ODI Global and is a Special Advisor to the Trade and Development Bank Group.

  • Profile picture of Brin Datema
    Senior Program Manager

    Brin Datema

    Before joining the Secretariat, Brin completed her Masters in Global Human Development from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, specializing in program design and evaluation and with a certificate in social innovation and global development.

    Prior to Georgetown, Brin spent five years at the Center for Global Development (CGD), where she led work to strengthen the organization’s approach to defining, measuring, and communicating its impact, conducted research on global health policy and financing, and executed public and private events to convene key policy stakeholders around innovative research and policy recommendations.

    While pursuing her master’s, Brin worked with Instiglio — a non-profit dedicated to transforming global development effectiveness through results-based approaches — as a summer associate based in Mauritius and a graduate student intern. At Instiglio, Brin helped establish a central impact team and developed impact measurement and management strategies and frameworks to capture and inform the organization’s work with governments and development partners.

    Brin received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Educational Studies from Colgate University. While pursuing her bachelor’s degree, Brin held positions as a legislative affairs intern in the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and as an intern at Save the Children helping to advance their Maternal Newborn and Child Survival and Early Childhood Education campaigns.

  • Profile picture of Amy Dodd
    Director of Outreach

    Amy Dodd

    Amy has over 20 years experience working in the international development and climate space as a researcher, policy expert and advocate.

    She has previously worked with NGOs and think tanks leading political strategy and policy development across a broad range of finance issues, with an emphasis on global engagement and processes. Most recently, she developed policy and a programme of engagement on reform of the multilateral development banks and convened partners to support a successful World Bank IDA21 replenishment.

    Amy graduated from the University of Sydney and has written on issues relating to geopolitics, development and climate finance, and international financial architecture reform.

  • Profile picture of Mma Amara Ekeruche
    Researcher

    Mma Amara Ekeruche

    Mma Amara Ekeruche is a senior economist with 8 years’ experience in conducting research in think tanks and international financial institutions. Her research interests are public finance and debt management, domestic resource mobilization, and macroeconomic management.

    Consequently, her research experience cuts across key issues in development including public debt, South-South Cooperation, and the impact of Chinese investment in Africa. You can find her work on the Think20, Brookings Institution, the International Centre for Tax and Development, the United Nations Office on South-South Cooperation, and Southern Voice. She was also awarded the IMF Youth Fellowship in 2020. She holds a Master’s in Economic Policy from University College London (UCL), United Kingdom and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana.

  • Profile picture of John Norris
    Lead Author

    John Norris

    John Norris has served in several senior roles in government, international institutions, and nonprofits. He is a Senior Adviser at the Starling Institute, a non-profit focused on promoting multilateral cooperation.

    He previously served as a Policy Adviser at the Gates Foundation. John also served as a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and the Executive Director of the Enough Project, a human rights organization focused on preventing war crimes.

    In 2014, John was appointed by President Barack Obama to the President’s Global Development Council, a body charged with advising the administration on effective development practices.

    John also was the Chief of Political Affairs for the United Nations Mission in Nepal, assisting the peace process that helped end that country’s decade-long civil war. John served as Special Adviser to the president of the International Crisis Group, and as the director of communications for U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott. He also worked as a speechwriter and field disaster expert at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

    John is the author of four books, including Mary McGrory: The First Queen of Journalism which was a finalist for the LA Times Book Award. He also wrote a well-regarded history of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and has authored opinion pieces and features appearing in a broad array of publications including Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, Washington Post, LA Times, Politico, The New Republic, Chicago Tribune, The Guardian, and International Herald Tribune.

  • Profile picture of Radha Rajkotia
    Director of Research

    Radha Rajkotia

    Radha Rajkotia is an entrepreneurial leader known for her commitment to driving innovation, impact, evidence, and positive change in international and economic development.

    Most recently, as the Chief Executive Officer of Building Markets, Radha championed market-based solutions for small businesses in economically vulnerable communities, facilitating their entry into sustainable and profitable supply chain opportunities. In her previous role as Chief Research and Policy Officer at Innovations for Poverty Action, she spearheaded the execution of IPA’s strategy across 22 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, translating evidence into impactful practice and policy. Radha spent eleven years leading the economic unit at the International Rescue Committee, applying her creative thinking to deliver aid and test groundbreaking ideas on the ground, from cash-based relief to job creation in conflict settings.

    Radha actively contributes to shaping the social impact landscape through her voluntary service, including past and current board positions at Building Markets, where she is chair of the board of directors, and Birdseed Foundation, which provides down payment grants to low-income, first-generation home buyers in DC and Philadelphia. Previously, she served on the board of directors of the Cash Learning Partnership (CALP – a global organization promoting the use of cash grants to support people affected by crisis), the Center for Economic Opportunity (a US-based community development financial institution, providing flexible and low-cost loans to refugees and migrants), and Asphaleia (a UK-based charity dedicated to education and employment programming for young migrants).

    Radha holds a Ph.D. in Refugee Studies (Geography), an MA in Migration Studies, and an MSc in Social Research Methods from the University of Sussex. She is a Senior Policy Fellow at the Henry Leir Institute for Human Security at Tufts University and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University.

  • Profile picture of Jeanette Thomas
    Director of Strategic Communications

    Jeanette Thomas

    Jeanette Thomas is a communications leader with over three decades of experience at the intersection of journalism, storytelling, global politics, and international development.

    She combines newsroom instincts and narrative expertise with strategic vision, having led global teams and designed communications strategies that advance growth, inclusion, and impact in international development.

    In 2013, Jeanette founded Developing Stories, a video production company dedicated to telling stories about emerging and developing economies. As CEO, she has produced, directed, and written videos in more than 70 countries—in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America—bringing complex development and economic issues to life through authentic, visually compelling storytelling.

    Before that, Jeanette spent 10 years at the World Bank, first in the Middle East and North Africa region and later as Director of Communications at CGAP, a global partnership for financial inclusion. There she built a world-class multimedia platform and led a global communications team responsible for digital strategy, branding, and outreach across the development community.

    Jeanette began her career in London at the BBC, where she produced award-winning documentaries, news, and current affairs programs including NewsnightIn Our Time, and Start the Week. She spent more than five years as a News producer in the BBC’s Washington Bureau where she covered major political, economic, and cultural issues throughout The Americas—from two U.S. presidential elections and the 9/11 attacks to catastrophic earthquakes in El Salvador and Argentina’s economic crash and subsequent elections.

    She holds a D.Phil. (Ph.D.) and M.Phil. from Oxford University and a First-Class B.A. with Honors from Manchester University. She is a recipient of the Arwid Johansson Prize, the Shakespeare Prize, and a British Academy Fellowship. She has also been part of teams recognized with a Royal Television Society Award and multiple Sony nominations and awards.

  • Profile picture of Nicole Vernot-Jonas
    Program Assistant

    Nicole Vernot-Jonas

    Nicole Vernot-Jonas is the Program Assistant on the Future of Development Cooperation Coalition Secretariat. Prior to joining the Secretariat, she conducted implementation research during a semester at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, Ghana as part of her Master’s in Global Health with Georgetown University.

    Nicole has held internships with Albright Stonebridge Group’s Health and Life Sciences Practice and Project HOPE’s Global Health Technical Unit. Most recently she supported the planning and execution of an interdisciplinary global health case challenge hosted by Georgetown’s Global Health Institute.

    Nicole is a strong advocate for youth engagement in health diplomacy, having represented the Global Climate and Health Alliance as a youth member at the 2025 World Health Summit in Berlin and attended the 2023 World Health Assembly in Geneva as a student delegate.

    A long-time resident of Washington, DC, Nicole is fluent in French and Spanish and has sung professionally with the National Cathedral Choir. She holds an MSc in Global Health and a Graduate Certificate in Refugees, Migration, and Humanitarian Emergencies, as well as a BSc with Departmental Honors in Global Health from Georgetown University.

Co-Host Organizations

  • African Center for Economic Transformation

    African Center for Economic Transformation

    The African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) is a Pan-African economic policy institute supporting Africa’s long-term growth through transformation. ACET produces research, offers policy advice, and connects key stakeholders so that African countries are better positioned for smart, inclusive, and sustainable development that improves lives.

  • Center for Global Development

    Center for Global Development

    The Center for Global Development works to reduce global poverty and improve lives through innovative economic research that drives better policy and practice by the world’s top decision makers.

As co-hosts, ACET and CGD provide research leadership, convening platforms, operational support, and communications capacity to ensure the Coalition’s success.

Supporting Countries

Supporting countries are expressing support for the goals and objectives of the Coalition and a commitment to engage with its work and recommendations. However, this does not imply automatic acceptance of the Coalition’s recommendations. Each country retains the flexibility to consider and adopt proposals as appropriate. Countries will act as ambassadors for the work in their regions and at regional bodies where they have representation. The Coalition aims to begin with the support of a group of 20 diverse countries – a “coalition of the willing.”

  • Belgium

    Belgium

  • Canada

    Canada

  • France

    France

  • Germany

    Germany

  • Ghana

    Ghana

  • Ireland

    Ireland

  • Malawi

    Malawi

  • Mexico

    Mexico

  • Nepal

    Nepal

  • Republic of Korea

    Republic of Korea

  • Senegal

    Senegal

  • Singapore

    Singapore

  • Somalia

    Somalia

  • South Africa

    South Africa

  • Spain

    Spain

  • United Kingdom

    United Kingdom

  • Zambia

    Zambia

Circle of Funders

The Coalition is currently funded by a range of philanthropic institutions. All funding for the Coalition is channeled through the co-host organizations.

  • Coefficient Giving – support provided to CGD
  • Conrad N. Hilton Foundation – support provided to ACET
  • Ford Foundation – support provided to CGD
  • Gates Foundation – support provided to ACET and CGD
  • Foundation name forthcoming – support provided to ACET

Circle of Academic Advisors

The Circle of Academic Advisors is a diverse group of researchers and thought leaders who help shape the Coalition’s research agenda and expand its intellectual network across disciplines and geographies. They contribute cutting-edge knowledge, regional insight, and networks to inform the Coalition’s consultations, research, and recommendations.

  • Reuben Abraham
  • Masood Ahmed
  • Rishikesh Ram Bhandary
  • Amar Bhattacharya
  • Nancy Birdsall
  • Laurence Christian Chandy
  • Stefan Dercon
  • Shantayanan Devarajan
  • Ishac Diwan
  • Pascaline Dupas
  • Karim El Aynaoui
  • Robert Floyd
  • Kevin Gallagher
  • Mikaela Gavas
  • Rachel Glennerster
  • Caren Grown
  • Patrick Guillaumont
  • Nilima Gulrajani
  • Joel Hellman
  • Anna-Katharina Hornidge
  • Seema Jayachandran
  • Dean Karlan
  • Homi Kharas
  • Stephan Klingebiel
  • Clemence Landers
  • Hans Peter Lankes
  • Moazzam Malik
  • Bernabé Malacalza
  • Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi
  • Rohini Pande
  • Sara Pantuliano
  • Kunal Sen
  • Jean-Michel Severino
  • Vera Songwe
  • Johan Swinnen
  • Peter Taylor
  • Zainab Usman
  • Taidong Zhou