Paloma Adams-Allen is the current President and CEO of Airlink. She previously served across multiple administrations in the United States Agency for International Development in a number of roles, including Chief Operating Officer and its first Deputy Administrator for Management and Resources. As second in command, she served on the President’s Management Council and was responsible for overall management and day-to-day operations in over a 100 countries. Adams-Allen also led USAID’s ambitious internal reform agenda designed to drive progress beyond programs, including modernizing private sector engagement, spurring locally-led development, and slashing bureaucratic burdens on staff and partners.

Prior to joining the Administration, Adams-Allen was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Inter-American Foundation where she revamped the organization and secured its largest budget increase in twenty years. Before the IAF, she launched Winrock International’s global private sector partners practice, and worked at the Organization of American States in several policy and leadership roles. She also served as Deputy Assistant Administrator and Senior Advisor for Partnerships in USAID’s Latin America and Caribbean Bureau for over six years beginning in 2010. She currently serves as the President of Brown University’s Women’s Alumni Network, as well as on the boards of the global non profit, Pact, and the French social impact organization, Livelihoods Venture.

Ms. Adams-Allen, who spent her childhood between rural Jamaica and the New England region, earned a JD from Georgetown University Law Center, a Bachelor of Arts in Development Studies from Brown University, and a Masters in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. An avid hiker and gardener, she lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, two awesome daughters, and an energetic puppy.