Kelly Bidwell

Kelly joined the team as a Fellow in 2013, and took on the role as OES Director in 2016. Kelly provides the direction and oversight of the team, manages the staff and budget, coordinates with GSA leadership, and ensures scientific protocols and standards are met across the OES portfolio. Kelly leads strategic conversations with government-wide leadership to identify evidence gaps and evidence generation opportunities, feasible evaluation plans which can be implemented in agency operational and budget constraints, government-wide resource and training needs, and aims to ensure OES is responsive to growing and changing agency demands. Kelly has also built a portfolio of global health projects with USAID, led early collaborations with the VA, and supports and oversees all of OES’ ongoing evaluations. Kelly holds a MA in International Affairs from Columbia University, where she focused on economic development, education and evaluation methods. In her previous roles at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and the Jameel Abdul Latif Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), Kelly served in technical and management positions launching, supervising and running numerous randomized control trials across sectors, leading training and dissemination efforts internationally, launching and growing programs and country offices, and supporting the use of impact evaluations and rigorous evidence for informed and effective policy making with numerous governments. Kelly lived and worked abroad, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, for much of her professional career prior to joining GSA.