DATA LEADERSHIP AT USAID
Basia Powazki Sall, Acting Chief Data Officer
Ms. Basia Powazki Sall has joined USAID as the interim Chief Data Officer as part of her SES Candidate Development Program. Prior to joining M/CIO she has worked at US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for over 15 years splitting her time in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) and the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). She is currently the Deputy Director for the IT Service Delivery and Operations Division in the OCIO. In this position she ensures the Customer eXperience (CX) is paramount in all interactions from help desk calls to development of new Agency-wide IT solutions. Her position was critical to ensure the NRC could quickly work remotely during the COVID-19 Pandemic and rapidly implement technology adoption across the Agency.
Before moving into management positions, Ms. Sall was the NRC Leadership Development Program Manager in OCHCO and a senior member of the Enterprise Architecture Team (focusing on the NRC IT/IM Strategic Plan) in OCIO. She came to NRC after seven years with the U.S. Peace Corps serving in leadership positions at both headquarters and overseas in Senegal and Mali in West Africa. Previous to that she was a middle school computer science teacher in the Philadelphia School District after serving two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Ms. Sall is a graduate of The University of Toledo with a Bachelor of Business Administration specializing in Information Systems and Operations Management and Temple University with a Master of Education specializing in computer science education.
BRANDON PUSTEJOVSKY, STATISTICAL OFFICIAL
Brandon Pustejovsky is the Statistical Official and Senior Data Advisor at USAID. He leads the USAID Data Services team within the Office of the Chief Information Officer, providing a broad portfolio of data analytics, visualization, and digital curation services to USAID staff and partners worldwide.
Mr. Pustejovsky has been leading international development and humanitarian assistance operations for more than 20 years, in cooperation with organizations such as UNHCR, the International Red Cross, the World Food Programme, and multiple non-profits. His experience spans six continents and over 50 countries.
Prior to working at USAID, he spent several years establishing humanitarian assistance operations in post-conflict and post-disaster environments. His exposure to these unstructured settings gave him a growing appreciation for the role of evidence and data in providing clarity of purpose and programmatic direction.
Mr. Pustejovsky holds a master's degree in international relations from Yale University and a bachelor's degree in foreign service and French from Baylor University.
WINSTON ALLEN, AGENCY EVALUATION OFFICER
Dr. Winston J. Allen is the Agency Evaluation Officer, located in USAID’s Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning (PPL). He has over 30 years of experience in international development program evaluation, project planning and design, and social science research.
Prior to this role, he was Senior Evaluation Specialist, during which he managed a $455 million evaluation services contract, and provided technical leadership in designing performance and impact evaluations, towards strengthening evaluation practice, and evaluation capacity across the Agency. His evaluation and research experience cut across several sectors including economic growth, health, transportation, labor, education, agriculture, business, and natural resource management. Over the years, he has served as evaluation team lead for a broad range of evaluations supported by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private foundations, and U.S. Federal Government Agencies.
He has extensive experience conducting program evaluations in countries in Africa, Asia, Latin American, the Caribbean, Europe and Eurasia, and the Middle East. Prior to joining USAID, he was the Director for Monitoring and Evaluation on a USAID funded project, Africa’s Health in 2010, where he led the effort to strengthen the evaluation and program monitoring capacity of African regional health organizations. He holds a master’s and a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning, with a focus on international development, from the University of Pennsylvania.