New Education Lead for Results for Development

January 17, 2017

Washington, D.C. — January 17,  2017 —  Results for Development (R4D) President and CEO Gina Lagomarsino announced that Nicholas Burnett will step down as the organization’s managing director for global education on March 1, 2017. He will be succeeded by Amy Black who most recently served as the vice president of growth strategy and development at the nonprofit Teach For All. Burnett will join R4D’s growing senior fellow program — a key source of technical expertise and mentorship for the organization.

Over his 7-year tenure, Burnett has established the R4D education portfolio and built an exceptional team of education experts. Under Burnett’s leadership, R4D has contributed to global efforts in education financing, innovation and evaluation, early childhood development and skills development.

“It has been an honor and privilege for me to support R4D’s mission of helping people escape poverty and reach their full potential and to do this alongside the organization’s passionate and hard-working staff, board and partners. I am extremely proud of what we have done to improve the education available to children in low-income and marginalized communities — from conducting research that has spurred critical investments by the public and private sectors, to facilitating the diffusion and scale-up of high-quality education innovations, our work has had significant, wide-reaching impact on the global education community,” Burnett stated. “And as a long-time friend and admirer of Amy’s, I have every confidence that she will carry R4D’s education portfolio to greater heights in the coming years.”

Black’s previous role was vice president of growth strategy and development at the nonprofit Teach For All, a global network of 40 independent, locally led and governed partner organizations — including Teach For America — that recruit and develop promising future leaders to teach in their countries’ high-need classrooms and work with others, inside and outside of education, to ensure all children are able to fulfill their potential. Prior to that, she was executive director of the Washington, D.C. region at Teach For America, where she expanded the corps of teachers from 90 to 300 enabling the region to benefit more students. Her team also launched an early childhood education program that became an organizational model.

Before she joined Teach For America, Black oversaw international communications for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and spent two years as a presidential management fellow rotating through several State Department offices, including a six-month assignment in South Africa. She earned a master’s degree in international affairs from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Tennessee.

Lagomarsino commended Burnett’s legacy and welcomed Black, saying, “For several years, R4D’s work in global education has been synonymous with Nick Burnett. He has steered a fantastic team, and together they have led important work that has influenced and shaped the global education landscape.” She added, “Amy has a strong track record designing and building a global organization that supports a highly effective multi-country network, and she is deeply passionate about improving access to quality education. I am excited to see where Amy takes our education portfolio, building on our strong history.”

Black and Lagomarsino have confirmed that R4D will work to expand its education portfolio and identify new strategic areas of emphasis, while maintaining its focus on education innovation, early childhood development and skills for employability.

Global & Regional Initiatives

R4D is a globally recognized leader for designing initiatives that connect implementers, experts and funders across countries to build knowledge and get that knowledge into practice.