NEW YORK—The Open Society Foundations have named Smita Singh today to the newly created role of chief strategy officer starting on January 12, 2022, as part of a continuing process of organizational transformation aimed at increasing Open Society’s impact around the world. In this new position, Singh will guide the development of a new worldwide strategic direction for Open Society across its global and regional programs.
“Smita joins us at a crucial time in our transformation,” said Mark Malloch-Brown, president of the Open Society Foundations. “She is recognized as one of the most creative and strategic thinkers in philanthropy. Her wide-ranging experiences, from working with grassroots organizations at the community level to founding new global philanthropic programs and international institutions to pushing for the adoption of more rigorous methods of evaluation and accountability, will help ensure that our new multi-year strategy is both locally informed and globally aligned, and that it reflects our renewed aspirations for impact, focus, integration, and scale.”
Singh brings a wealth of experience in leadership in the development sector, and a track record of launching and leading large-scale initiatives.
She was the founding director of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s Global Development Program which, under her leadership, grew into the second largest philanthropic global development venture worldwide devoted to addressing development challenges. She also oversaw the creation and launch of the Hewlett and Gates Foundations’ partnership for Quality Education in Developing Countries (QEDC), focused on education in the early grades in the developing world.
Singh has also been instrumental in bringing transparency and accountability measures to the forefront of the global development agenda, including the creation of the International Aid Transparency Initiative, and working with President Obama’s White House on the Open Government Partnership. She helped to create the International Initiative in Impact Evaluation (3ie), a new international agency devoted to improving the measurement of results in development interventions.
“As we move toward a more outcomes-focused future, I am delighted that we will have Smita’s guidance as we seek to drive meaningful change around the world and become more rigorous in understanding our impact across all areas of our work,” said Malloch-Brown.
Singh, who will report directly to Malloch-Brown, has also been serving on the governing boards of Oxfam America (as chair), the Natural Resource Governance Institute, Twaweza, the International Budget Partnership, and the Center for Global Development.
Open Society’s ongoing transformation seeks to augment impact around its enduring commitments to justice, equity, and expression through more focus, integration, and scale. It is centered around a new locally informed, globally aligned approach that aims to deliver more coordinated and collaborative interventions, through grant making, advocacy, strategic litigation, investment, and other tools.