OUR TEAM

Claudia is passionate about social justice and she brings issues of radical equality, locally owned development and managing power differentials into her work at Root Change. She loves nothing more than co-designing and testing new capacity development approaches with local colleagues. Claudia left Pact to found Root Change after serving there as the Director of Training. From 1994 to 2002, Claudia was on the staff of Case Western Reserve’s Weatherhead School of Management in the Doctoral Department of Organizational Behavior, where she conceived and co-directed the Global Excellence in Management (GEM) Initiative, a capacity development program for NGOs worldwide funded by a seven-year multimillion dollar USAID grant. Today, Claudia is one of a small number of professionals who specialize in positive approaches to change. After working in more than 40 countries across multiple sectors, Claudia still experiences pure joy when she is traversing new lands with her hiking stick and backpack in tow.

Rachel works with Root Change’s team to create effective monitoring, evaluation, research and learning processes. She is responsible for data analysis endeavors, as well as coding and programming support for Root Change’s online network visualization and feedback tool, Pando. Rachel holds a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in policy and program evaluation and research from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS). Rachel got her start assisting with data collection and analysis at the META Lab. Before joining Root Change, she supported M&E and data projects in the United States, Nepal, and Morocco. When not in the office, Rachel can be found running, hiking, traveling, or exploring DC with her camera.

Smriti oversees internal operations, including financial management and organizational planning process. As a part of the Senior Management Team, Smriti is responsible for designing and implementing Root Change’s institutional goals and business strategies. She also coordinates new business development and manages relationships with partners. Smriti has led and supported organizational and system strengthening work in Africa, and East and South Asia. Before Root Change, Smriti worked at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), developing strategic partnerships with donors. At Malaysia Blue Ocean Strategy Institute, she consulted the Malaysian government on agriculture and rural development. Her interest in rural development started at the World Bank, when she worked on implementing rural livelihoods projects based on women’s self-help groups. Smriti holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). For Smriti, happiness means a combination of momos and local brew in company of her family and friends in DC.

Wadia works with Root Change’s staff and partners around the world to provide administrative, operational, and logistical support. She is also responsible for administering and improving the organization’s knowledge management. Wadia has experience working in management and communications in Afghanistan, where she worked for the public and private sectors and the Afghan media. She is the owner of Afghanistan’s first and only business news portal, and she writes stories on Afghan women’s rights for Afghan and international news agencies and blogs. Wadia studied Economics and German Studies at University of Richmond. Outside of the office she loves to play dress up, dance, and take photos with her daughter, and spend time with her husband.

Nate works with Root Change’s diverse partners to design and facilitate participatory change processes. He leads organizational and systems development work with Children International’s 13 global agencies and the Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement program in Nigeria. He has also led systems mapping projects in Africa and Latin America and piloted a Collective Impact approach in Colombia. Before joining Root Change, Nate served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon where he co-founded a rural entrepreneurship training center and rabbit cooperative. He has a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in power in development systems from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Carleton College. He is fluent in Spanish and French and can say “welcome to the workshop” in a few other languages. Nate likes running in new cities, working on his family’s cattle ranch, and finding local music in DC and beyond.