Gail Amare

Gail Amare is ILRI Ethiopia’s Head of Administration since June 2014 and additionally ILRI Director General’s Deputy Representative to Ethiopia since November 2021. Gail holds an M.S. degree in International Development Management from  American University’s School of International Service in Washington, D.C., and a B.A. degree in public affairs with a concentration in policy from Michigan State University’s James Madison College.  Prior to joining ILRI, she served in senior administrative positions in the arena of public health in both Ethiopia and the United States. 

She has over 20 years of leadership and management experience in all facets of business operations and administration.  She is a visionary and systems thinker specializing in leading cross-functional, interdependent teams through continuous improvement and innovation processes to transform administrative and operational services towards customer-driven, compliant, effective, and efficient service excellence. She leads teams in assessing risk, creating customer feedback loops, crafting service level agreements, setting measurable objectives to tackle bottlenecks, designing dashboard indicators, and generating information for decision making.

She is an active listener and transparent communicator who engages global research leaders to understand fit-for-purpose requirements while leveraging global best practices in the context of local knowledge.