Staff

Jennifer Potter | President & CEO

Kristen Dailey | Chief Operating Officer
Megan Bowman | Vice President, Policy
John N. Heathcliff | Vice President, Development
Katherine Switz | Vice President, Programs for Enterprise Growth

Amy Allsopp | Director of Communications
Jennifer Bliss | Development Officer
Emmas Lindsay | Executive Assistant
Murphy McClenahan | Associate, Programs for Enterprise Growth
David Reynolds | Finance & Human Resources Manager
Jenna Swalin | Communications Associate
Jumaane Tafawa | Manager, Programs for Enterprise Growth

Jennifer Potter | President & CEO

Jennifer Potter has provided executive leadership of the Initiative for Global Development (IGD) since its inception in 2003. Under Jennifer’s leadership, IGD has grown into an influential network of business leaders that champions effective solutions to global poverty.

Jennifer guides the strategic direction of the organization and develops relationships with key business and policy leaders. She represents IGD at its National Summits and has participated in the Clinton Global Initiative and Brookings Blum Roundtable at the Aspen Institute. She is a principal in the Modernizing Foreign Aid Network (MFAN) and a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy. She serves on the boards of Harbor Properties, Global Washington and the alumnae board of Chatham College.

Prior to leading IGD, Jennifer served as Executive Director of Global Partnerships, an organization that pioneered microfinance work in Central America. She chaired the board of the award-winning Seattle Housing Authority for eight years and earlier in her career was an owner of two urban planning and development companies. Jennifer served in the Peace Corps in Thailand and graduated from Chatham College.

Download Jennifer Potter's complete bio

Amy Allsopp | Director of Communications

Amy develops and manages strategic communications to increase awareness of IGD and advance its objectives. Prior to joining IGD in 2007, she served as communications coordinator at Global Partnerships. Before becoming involved in global development, Amy provided leadership and implementation on marketing and fundraising projects for the Seattle International Film Festival and Seattle Shakespeare Company. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art design and began her career as a lead creative member of the marketing team for University Book Store in Seattle.

Jennifer Bliss | Development Officer

Jennifer works closely with the executive team to implement IGD’s fundraising plan including foundation, corporate and major gift strategies. She came to the Initiative for Global Development with a degree in human services from Western Washington University, where she focused on the significance of global systems and the vital role of nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining IGD, Jennifer was the Development Coordinator for the West Sound Wildlife Shelter.

Megan Bowman | Vice President, Policy

As Vice President for Policy, Megan oversees IGD’s efforts to leverage the voice of business in advocating for more effective U.S. global development policies. Megan has worked with IGD since 2002 when she served as a consultant during the formation of the organization. She joined IGD’s staff full-time in the fall of 2005 to lead its public policy and advocacy work.

Megan has over 20 years experience in international public policy and government relations and has worked in business, government and the nonprofit sector. She began her career in Washington D.C. working in the Congress on foreign affairs and trade issues. After returning to Seattle, she spent several years at Microsoft helping build their government affairs effort. Following her tenure at Microsoft, Megan joined APCO Worldwide, the global public affairs firm, as a vice president overseeing accounts for nonprofit clients with international interests, particularly in the field of global health. Megan graduated from Yale and has an MA in international affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Kristen Dailey | Chief Operating Officer

Kristen joined IGD in 2001 and helped the organization develop into a strong network of business leaders. She currently manages new program development, internal operations, overall strategic planning, partner recruitment and corporate outreach.

Kristen has been involved with international development issues for the past 15 years. Her professional background includes fundraising at the United Nations Foundation in Washington D.C., working with low-income refugee and immigrant families in Seattle, and heading a regional advocacy coalition of international relief and development organizations in the state of Washington.

She has lived in the Dominican Republic and traveled to Vietnam, Thailand, India, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador to research microcredit and health programs. She has a master’s degree in public administration from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.

John N. Heathcliff | Vice President, Development

John works with the staff and board to create and strengthen funding opportunities and strategic partnerships to support IGD’s work. John brings more than 20 years of development experience in senior roles with nationally recognized nonprofit organizations and foundations. Most recently he served as chief development officer for Public Counsel, the largest pro bono public interest law firm in the world. Throughout his career, John has worked alongside distinguished leaders from the business, government and nonprofit sectors to create and expand social enterprise initiatives and collaborations.

Emmas Lindsay | Executive Assistant

Emmas assists President & CEO Jennifer Potter and manages the IGD office. She has lived and studied in Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, England and the United States. After volunteering with the Red Cross in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, she continues to believe that many small individual efforts can make a huge difference to the lives of others. Emmas is committed to helping make a positive change in our world.

Murphy McClenahan | Associate, Programs for Enterprise Growth
Murphy works with the Programs for Enterprise Development team to develop strategies and opportunities for Frontier 100 CEOs to expand their businesses and increase investments in Africa. Before joining IGD, she worked as an investment analyst for the Meridian Capital investment bank providing M&A advisory services to middle-market companies in the consumer, aerospace, and transportation and logistics sectors. Murphy graduated from the University of Portland with a BBA in Finance and an entrepreneurial minor.

David Reynolds | Finance & Human Resources Manager

David is responsible for all treasury, finance, and human resource functions for IGD. He holds a CPA certificate and has an MBA degree from the University of Tulsa. He held several accounting and financial management positions for manufacturing and healthcare organizations before founding his own company in 1992. David came to IGD after selling his company to a venture capital group in 2006.

Katherine Switz | Vice President, Programs for Enterprise Growth

Katherine leads IGD’s efforts to catalyze business participation in poverty reduction. Katherine has extensive experience in the commercial, nonprofit and public sectors engaging business to reduce poverty. Most recently, Katherine was a vice president at Unitus, where she was charged with Africa expansion, global network management and strategy.

Prior to that, Katherine worked for GE Capital, developing a comprehensive strategy for a startup business providing financial services to energy companies globally. Katherine was also a consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she advised clients in a range of industries on strategy, organization and operations. Katherine served as a project manager at the International Finance Corporation in Russia. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Dartmouth College.

Jumaane Tafawa | Manager, Programs for Enterprise Growth

Jumaane works closely with Frontier 100 CEOs to grow their businesses and reduce poverty. Jumaane brings a variety of experience to IGD from the private, government and nonprofit sectors. He was a strategy consultant at FSG Social Impact Advisors, where he developed strategies for Fortune 500 companies and foundations. He was also a management consultant and improved the effectiveness of multiple private sector development projects sponsored by multilateral organizations, such as the International Finance Corporation (World Bank) and various governments in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Jumaane has entrepreneurial expertise from successfully starting three organizations and holds a Masters in Public Administration in International Development from Harvard University.