Staff

Priya Vora built USAID’s practice in digital technology and data management. She oversaw a multi-disciplinary team charged with developing new strategies and alliances to support the availability and adoption of the internet, digital financial services, open source data platforms and analytics capabilities. Before her tenure at USAID, Priya launched the Financial Services for the Poor program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she developed new programs that advanced digital finance including the start of the World Bank’s dedicated team on the topic.

Kay McGowan

Co-founder

Kay McGowan has a deep understanding of the policy-making process, both within and between governments and through multilateral structures. After more than a decade as a political officer in the U.S. diplomatic corps, Kay helped conceptualize and implement USAID’s shift to building pro-poor financial services markets through technology-enabled systems, support to business model innovation, and the reform of regulatory and policy frameworks. A recognized thought leader in digital financial inclusion and policy reform, Kay designs interdisciplinary courses on the role technology and policy innovation for inclusive economic development and improved governance for Georgetown University and speaks frequently at fora related to inclusive FinTech.

Jonathan Dolan

Research Lead

Jonathan Dolan oversees the team’s research agenda and works with a consortium of partners to better understand how we can collectively support the learning needs of policy makers whose values are aligned with the principles of participation, agency, choice, and trust in the digital world. Jonathan is a long-time leader in digital development, most recently in standing up USAID’s Digital Inclusion practice.

Jean-Philbert Nsengimana

Consultant

Phil’s career spans the public, international development and the private sectors. Most recently, he served as the Minister of Youth and ICT of Rwanda. During his tenure, he spearheaded the Smart Africa Alliance and YouthConnekt Africa – two pan African organizations focused on accelerating digital transformation and youth empowerment. Before joining the government, Phil was the Country Manager for Voxiva Rwanda and worked as the Africa Coordinator for the Development Gateway Foundation prior to that.

Currently, he is the Africa Managing Director at the Commons Project, working to unlock the full potential of technology and data for the common good. He serves on many boards including IntraHealth, the Alliance for Affordable Internet where he is the Honorary Chairperson, Startup Genome, and Future State.Phil holds a Masters of Public Administration Harvard University, a Global MBA in Information Technology, an MSc in Software Engineering and BSc in Computer Science.

John Crowley

Consultant

John Crowley connects policy and practice at Future State. John is a humanitarian technologist and data expert who has worked across the international crisis management system: from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, UN Global Pulse, and Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery in The World Bank Group to NetHope, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and National Defense University. He has been a research affiliate of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and served as a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where he wrote about connecting grassroots initiatives with government agencies. John is also a classically trained cellist.

Hamilton McNutt

Consultant

Hamilton is Co-founder of Strategic Impact Advisors (SIA) where he leads the firm’s work in digital financial services, focusing on payment systems and underlying data they create that enables expand access to financial services in a variety of development sectors including agriculture. Hamilton has supported both financial service providers, development organizations, and larger donors to better integrate digital financial services into their work. Hamilton has managed projects in over 15 countries throughout Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Latine America. He believes strongly in the potential of digital channels to improve service delivery models for rural populations, but also knows digital tools must be complemented with human interactions (tech and touch) for deployments to be successful in most contexts.

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Advisors

Venkatesh Hariharan

Data Governance Lead at IDFC Institute

Lalana Kagal

Principal Research Scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

David Medine

Senior Financial Sector Specialist and former staff lead on data protection and security, CGAP

Maura O’Neill

Former Chief Innovation Officer, US Agency for International Development

Lanré Osibona

Founder of Foresight Innovation Consulting

Carolina Trivelli

Former Social Welfare Minister of Peru

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In Memoriam

Shane Green served on Future State’s original board of advisors until he passed away in March 2020. Shane was the co-founder of UBDI & digi.me CEO (USA). We keep him in our memory.