Melissa Matlock is Associate Director of Gender and Social Inclusion at ACDI/VOCA. Melissa conducts research and develops strategies to integrate women and youth empowerment into projects and proposals. Melissa has over 10 years of experience working on gender, finance, value chains, and market development issues. Prior to joining ACDI/VOCA, Melissa provided technical assistance and managed agricultural finance and market development projects at Connexus Corporation and the SEEP Network. She also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica. Melissa holds a BA in global affairs and economics from North Central College and an MS with distinction in gender, development, and globalization from The London School of Economics and Political Science.

Jennifer Himmelstein is the Director of Corporate Analysis and Technical Assurance at ACDI/VOCA. Jennifer provides technical oversight of monitoring and evaluation processes across ACDI/VOCA’s global portfolio. She facilitates organizational learning by promoting the use of advanced analytics and collaborating, learning, and adapting mechanisms. Jennifer has a doctorate in Plant Sciences, with a focus in plant pathology. She has worked in food security for over a decade, including roles with USDA, USAID, and the EPA.

Jenn Williamson is Vice President of Gender and Social Inclusion at ACDI/VOCA, where she leads a team of advisors in developing and implementing ACDI/VOCA’s organizational policy, strategy, guidelines, and resources to promote gender equality and inclusion of marginalized groups. Jenn also serves as the gender and agriculture systems advisor for the Advancing Women’s Empowerment program. She previously led the women’s economic empowerment learning track under the USAID-funded Leveraging Economic Opportunities project. Prior to joining ACDI/VOCA, Jenn was a global technical advisor at Counterpart International. She holds a BA in English and studies in women and gender from the University of Virginia, an MFA in creative writing from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an MA and PhD in English with a research concentration in gender, race, class, and intersectionality from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Asli is a Senior Gender Advisor in RFS with nearly 20 years of experience working on gender issues in agricultural and rural development, more recently with a focus on women’s off-farm employment and entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, and solutions to unpaid care. Asli’s work has also examined the economic costs of gender inequality, including through household food insecurity and malnutrition. Prior to joining RFS, she worked as a Senior Economist at the International Center for Research on Women, where she led research, conducted evaluations, and supported partner organizations to build their gender capacity. Asli is a native Turkish speaker and has basic knowledge of French. 

Jamie Holbrook is the Knowledge Management Coordinator for the Advancing Women’s Empowerment program at EnCompass, where she leads knowledge capture and dissemination of AWE’s learning products. Jamie has contributed to communications and knowledge management on several USAID-funded agricultural development, private sector engagement, and CLA projects. She holds a BA in International Affairs from the George Washington University and an MSc in International Development from the University of Glasgow.