Board of Directors
Margarita Fernandez is Vice President of Global Operations and Management at IREX, a global development and education organization operating in more than 100 countries on issues such as education, leadership, information and media, communities and governance, and youth. She is responsible for strengthening the organization’s operational efficiency, resilience, agility, and management supporting IREX’s growth and driving for greater impact. Her areas of responsibility at IREX include global operations, risk management, data management, information technology, security, and organizational health.
Margarita brings rich experience in international development, leading and participating in programs and practices around the world focusing on public health, economic growth, and public-private partnerships. She has partnered with USAID, multilateral organizations, development banks, philanthropic foundations, and private sector to implement high impact development programs, under a variety of mechanisms, including contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements. As a development practitioner she brings varied in-country experience having been posted long term in Honduras, Bolivia, Czechoslovakia, Moldova, and Russia. Short term assignments have taken her to more than 20 countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America.
Prior to joining IREX Margarita was Deputy Division VP of Abt’s International Public Health and International Development divisions where she was responsible for quality program management and implementation, operations, risk management, financial management, and operational efficiency. She was a member of Abt’s Corporate Leadership Committee, Abt’s ERP Steering Committee and was awarded the company’s Entrepreneurship Prize in 2018 for her leadership in designing and implementing a company-wide talent marketplace.
Margarita began her international development career at PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Office of Government Services in Washington, DC. where she managed implementation of international development and advisory projects in Latin America, Eastern Europe, former Soviet Union, and Asia. After over a decade at PWC, she joined IBM’s International Development Group where she led a variety of USAID-funded bilateral and global international development projects for 5 years before joining Abt via acquisition. .
She is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and she holds a BA in political science from Carleton College. She is a native Spanish speaker, is proficient in French and speaks basic Romanian.
