NEW YORK—The American India Foundation, whose mission is to promote social and economic change in India and building a lasting bridge between the United States and India through high-impact interventions in education, livelihoods, public health, and leadership development, has appointed Nishant Pandey as the non-profit group’s Chief Executive Officer.
Previously, Pandey served as AIF’s India Country Director over the last three years. He will be based in New York, and in his new role, he will build on the important programmatic, institutional development, and fund‐raising successes he has achieved in India, AIF Co-Chairs Lata Krishnan and Ajay Banga said in a letter to its supporters.
Pandey joined AIF in 2014 with nearly two decades of global development experience, including work in countries such as Russia, Tajikistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Albania, Yemen, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordon, the UK and India. Prior to AIF, he served in Jerusalem as the Country Director for Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territory at Oxfam, a global development organization operating in 80 countries worldwide. In this capacity, he led Oxfam’s social development and humanitarian operations in Gaza, West Bank, Jerusalem and Israel and Oxfam’s global influencing work on the Israel – Palestinian conflict. As a British Chevening scholar, Pandey completed his Master’s degree in International Development & Finance from the University of Leicester, UK. He also holds a Master’s degree in Economics and a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Economics.
“I am thrilled about the prospect and promise of taking AIF to greater heights and the opportunity for me to contribute to this journey,” said Nishant. “I am confident that working together, we will achieve our ambition of touching the lives of 5 million women, men and children over the next 5 years.”
Pandey joins AIF as the fifth CEO and succeeds Alex Counts, who will serve as Senior Advisor during the transition period. “I wish to extend both my personal and professional gratitude to Alex, whose many contributions to AIF include positive changes that have strengthened the organization significantly,” said Pandey.
