Nazir Ahmad, Founder and President

Nazir Ahmad has recently provided strategic counsel to premier public service institutions including the World Bank, UNICEF, the Open Society Institute, and the National Commission on Energy Policy. Prior to launching GivingWorks in 2002, he was a senior partner and practice leader at Strategic Decisions Group, advising corporate leaders on issues of leadership, business innovation, strategic marketing, business alliances, and capacity building. Nazir blends an inquisitive mind, strategic acumen, analytical rigor, and skillful facilitation to help clients devise innovative strategies for societal impact. He founded several NGOs including the Overseas Development Network. He has served on the boards of Pact Inc., HSHR, and the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University. He currently serves on the  boards of Decision Education Foundation, Giving Circles Network, and the Center for Community Engagement at Amherst College. He received his B.A. magna cum laude from Amherst College and his M.A. and M.B.A. from Stanford University.

Timothy Smythe, Senior Consultant

Tim joined GivingWorks in 2004, and has since worked closely with large non-profits and international development organizations to enhance the quality and evidence-base of strategic plans, to develop analytical frameworks around difficult strategic challenges, to design structures and systems that more efficiently and effectively support the organization's mission, and to develop results-based management methodologies and tools that drive ongoing performance improvement. Prior to joining GivingWorks, Tim served as a strategy consultant with Dean & Company, a firm specializing in fact-based, quantitative problem solving for Fortune 500 corporations and technology start-ups. At Dean, he advised senior executives on business strategy issues in the telecommunications, electric utility, and private equity industries. Tim holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce.

Allison Schwartz, Consultant

Since joining GivingWorks in 2007, Allison has played a key role in eliciting and distilling insights from qualitative data; assisting in the design and implementation of a complex survey instrument; architecting the diversity strategy of a large national membership organization; and developing a range of presentation materials. Prior to joining GivingWorks, Allison co-authored a case study on a social enterprise for the University of Michigan’s William Davidson Institute and assessed the feasibility of a national monitoring system for Cambodia’s new anti-domestic violence law for GTZ - Germany’s bilateral aid agency - in Phnom Penh. Allison holds an M.P.P. with a concentration in international politics and development from the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy and a B.A. in government from Cornell University.

Jennifer Stout, Consultant

Since joining GivingWorks in 2008, Jennifer has assisted with research and analysis in support of the strategic planning effort for a major nonprofit organization and helped to design an organization-wide staff retreat. She and Allison are co-leading an effort to develop partnership models between pharmaceutical companies and a non-profit distributor of critical pharmaceutical products needed by low-income patients. Prior to joining GivingWorks, Jennifer was a Senior Organizational Performance Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, where she helped to develop a new business line for non-profits and specialized in stakeholder communication and cooperation. Jennifer has also helped DC-area nonprofits improve their capacity to measure their community impact as a volunteer consultant for Compass and worked for Pfizer’s venture capital team.

Jennifer holds an M.A. in Education from Harvard University and a B.A. in Philosophy and International Studies from Yale University. She is fluent in French and American Sign Language and speaks conversational Spanish.