Tammy Palmer

As a leader in strategic planning, international development and conservation, Tammy Palmer has previously held diplomatic and executive management roles in both public and private sectors in various nations across Africa, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. From 2013 to 2018, Tammy served as vice president of Africa programs for the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), where she led global efforts to provide strategic direction to over 300 program employees, including reinforcing the organization’s brand identity across its broad scope of implementation and diversifying funding portfolios across multiple countries. Appointed chief operations officer of JGI in July 2018, she also served simultaneously as the organization’s interim executive director.

Prior to her work at JGI, Tammy was a career foreign service officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she had assignments in Peru and Liberia. During her time in Liberia, she spearheaded USAID Liberia’s public management reform initiatives and served as the U.S. mission’s economic governance officer. Managing a large portfolio, including a $45 million institutional capacity-building project, she partnered with senior leaders from the government of Liberia to deliver on economic and civil service reform goals. Her foreign service career also included previous assignments in Afghanistan and Washington, D.C.

Tammy is the co-author of a publication about improving food security and reducing hunger in sub-Saharan Africa published by the International Food Policy Research Institute. She has also received various accolades, including the Department of State Meritorious Honor Award, the Congressional Hunger Center Leadership Award and the USAID Meritorious Honor Award. Tammy holds a master’s degree in development from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs and Public Policy and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Williams College.