Elizabeth Robinson
Practice Lead: Leadership Curriculum
Elizabeth Robinson is a master facilitator and leadership program designer with 25 years of experience in the leadership and international development arenas. She specializes in working in developing countries with emerging women, youth, and civil society leaders. Her work in international development began with a sixteen-year career at Georgetown University where she developed and led five USAID-funded capacity building and leadership programs for emerging leaders in Central America and East Timor. Within the NGO community, Elizabeth designed and directed the launch of the Hope Fellowship Programme, a USAID-sponsored initiative for women leaders from Kosovo that has been expanded to other countries in the Balkans and is still being funded today. The unique signature of programs designed by Elizabeth is the deep commitment fostered within participants to lead positive change in their communities, institutions and countries.
Along the way, Elizabeth has held positions as the Director of the Learning Academy for FINCA, the world's largest micro-finance development institution, and course chair with the State Department's Foreign Service Institute. As an independent consultant, Elizabeth has designed and facilitated training and leadership programs and led planning and team building retreats for the microfinance community, development agencies, the United Nations, and large corporations. She has served in Africa, Latin America, the Balkans, Europe, and Eastern Europe. Through her woman-owned business, Emergence International, Inc., Elizabeth has working with colleges on faculty and youth leadership programs, accelerating leadership development in the classroom. Supporting people to discover their unique leadership gifts and personal influence is one of Elizabeth’s passions.
Her educational background includes a M.S. in Organizational Development from The American University and a B.A. in Spanish from The University of Maryland. In addition, she has served as a certified Franklin-Covey Facilitator for Georgetown University and is a member of the Personal Leadership facilitators’ network based in Crestone, Colorado. Her interests include meditation, organic gardening and tree preservation.