As CEO of Mercy Corps, Tjada D. McKenna leads a global team of more than 5,600 humanitarians, who provide immediate relief and help communities forge new paths to prosperity in the face of disaster, poverty, and the impacts of climate change, reaching 37 million people in more than 40 countries. Previously, she served as COO of CARE, where she oversaw the organization’s programming and global operations. Ms. McKenna has also served as Chief Operating Officer at Habitat for Humanity.
Ms. McKenna spent more than a decade working to end world hunger in roles with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Government. During the Obama administration, Ms. McKenna served as the Deputy Coordinator of Development for Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, and as the Assistant to the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Food Security in Washington, D.C.
Ms. McKenna also brings a passion for innovation to her work, developed early in her career, through various roles at McKinsey & Company, American Express, and General Electric.
Ms. McKenna earned a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.