CID Staff

Andrea Neilan Carranza is the Assistant Director of Harvard's Center for International Development. Prior to CID, Andrea was an Advisor to Grameen Research and Director with Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), a global energy research firm. She launched several new businesses for CERA, including the firm's Global Power Forum, a membership serving C-level executives from electric utilities, independent power producers and host government ministries. Andrea had a lead development role in the launch of CERA's Asia Pacific energy practice and global financial services practice. Andrea co-founded Boston Cares and after college spent a year teaching English at Kai Tak Vietnamese refugee camp in Hong Kong. Andrea has a MA in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University and a BA from James Madison University. [Email]

Deanna Ford is the Associate Director of Evidence for Policy Design. Prior to joining CID, Deanna was based in Nicaragua leading the Nica HOPE Project of Fabretto Children’s Foundation as the Project Director and founder. Deanna completed her Master of Public Policy at Georgetown University in 2007, where she focused on issues in international development, education and SME/microfinance. During school, she also worked as a consultant for Agora Partnerships, an organization fostering business development in Nicaragua, and as a Research Fellow at the Center for Research on Children in the U.S. Previously, she worked for two years as a research assistant at the International Monetary Fund. Deanna graduated in 2003 from Princeton University with a degree in Economics and Latin American Studies.[E-mail]

Jennifer Gala is Program Director for the Growth Lab and Building Capable States Program as well as oversees student programs and events at the Harvard Center for International Development. Jennifer has been at the Kennedy School for over fourteen years working previously as program director in Executive Education. Her previous portfolio included: Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century, the Lee Kuan Yew Fellows Program, Financial Institutions for Private Enterprise Development, and Comparative Tax Policy and Administration. Jennifer earned her BA in Anthropology and History from Purdue University and her Masters in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. [E-mail]

Brittany Hill is EPoD's faculty assistant to Professors Rohini Pande, Asim Khwaja and Amitabh Chandra. She spent one year working for Innovations for Poverty Action, Liberia on the Rural Ex-Combatant Reintegration, the Urban Youth, and the Justice and Peace Commission projects. Brittany also was part of a research team in Sierra Leone where she interviewed NGOs on their efforts to reintegrate ex-combatants. She completed her Master in International Policy with a concentration in Conflict Resolution from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in 2011 and her Bachelor in History from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2009. [Email]

Anne Morriss is CID's Senior Advisor for the Migration Project, where she is working to launch and scale a policy laboratory that studies the links between migration, remittances and global development. She is also the Managing Director of the Concire Leadership Institute, which helps leaders in the public and private sectors make better organizational and policy decisions. Anne has worked with companies and governments throughout the U.S. and Latin America on strategy, leadership and institutional change. As a senior advisor with the OTF Group, Anne worked with President Leonel Fernandez to redesign the Dominican Republic’s industrial strategy. She also advised the government of Trinidad & Tobago on diversifying its economy away from oil and gas and developing a national entry strategy for high-tech sectors. Most recently, Anne partnered with the World Bank to help leaders in 40 emerging economies create policy environments that promote local entrepreneurship and innovation. Anne holds a BA in American Studies from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. [E-mail]

Chuck McKenney is the Communications Manager at the Center for International Development. Chuck has more than 15 years experience in broadcast, digital and print communications and has worked for academic, media, corporate, and nonprofit organizations. He spent nearly a decade producing television news programs for WBZ-TV in Boston. During his time as Managing Editor for the Live Free or Die Alliance, a NH nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting civic engagement, Chuck helped launch a comprehensive database of hundreds of elected officials. He holds a BS in Mass Communications from Emerson College. [Email]

Emily Myers is the Project Development Manager for Evidence for Policy Design. She has worked previously in health and international development, most recently as an advisor in the Office of Planning and Monitoring at the Mexican Social Security Institute. She has also worked in Guatemala for WINGS, a reproductive health organization, and in New York for the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. She holds a Master in Public Administration in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School and a BA in International Politics and Economics from New York University. [Email]

Melissa Siegel is the Assistant Director, Research Administration at the Center for International Development. Melissa has a decade of experience as a research administrator at a number of different institutions administrating a variety of programs from major NIH program projects to smaller, complex international projects. In addition, Melissa participated in a review of the research infrastructure at a large research hospital as a consultant with Huron Consulting. Most recently she worked as a Sponsored Programs Officer at the Office for Sponsored Programs at Harvard. In 1996, she received a degree in Sociology from the University of Kansas. In the mornings before work she coaches two CrossFit classes. [Email]

Sara Steinmetz is faculty assistant to Professors Rema Hanna, Ryan Sheely, and David Yanagizawa-Drott. She graduated from Boston University with a degree in International Relations and East Asian Studies, and spent the following year as a Visiting Lecturer at the Renmin University of China where she taught International Relations and International Law. Prior to joining CID, she worked at the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University and at the Women and Public Policy Program here at the Kennedy School. [Email]

Marija Tesla is the Program Coordinator and Faculty Assistant to Professor Ishac Diwan at the Center for International Development. She is also the Program Assistant for the Master in Public Administration in International Development. Previously Marija worked as Professor Lant Pritchett’s Faculty Assistant and International Development Area Administrator. Marija graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 2011 where she studied English and Russian Language and Literature. She graduated with high honors, Phi Beta Kappa. Marija is currently serving her alma mater as the Young Alumna Trustee, and is involved with Women’s Education Worldwide and The Women in Public Service Project. Marija speaks Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Russian, and has basic knowledge of Czech. [Email]