IDinsight appoints new CEO Rebecca Gong Sharp

February 1, 2024 – IDinsight announces today the appointment of Rebecca (Becca) Gong Sharp as Chief Executive Officer. Becca will lead the organization’s strategic vision in its next phase, focused on applying innovative, cutting-edge data solutions to social challenges while championing its values and people. With a team of more than 250 colleagues and offices in India, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, the Philippines, and Zambia, Becca will drive forward IDinsight’s ambition to create large-scale social impact using data and evidence tools for global development decision-makers. 

“We live at a time when the potential of data and evidence tools to improve lives has never been greater. After a rigorous recruitment process, the IDinsight Board of Directors saw clearly that Becca is the ideal CEO for this new phase of IDinsight as it rises to meet the moment,” said IDinsight Board Chair and co-founder, Dr. Neil Buddy Shah, CEO of the Clinton Health Access Initiative. “She is a phenomenal people leader and is the perfect person to steer IDinsight’s exceptional teams to continue pushing the frontier of ‘data for development.’  I am excited to see how Becca’s vision and leadership power IDinsight and our partners to make the world a meaningfully better and more just place.”

Until this month, Becca served as a presidential appointee in the Peace Corps as the Regional Director for Europe, the Mediterranean, and Asia, one of three regional leaders of the $430M US agency. In her executive role, she oversaw 19 country posts with ~800 staff, and represented the Peace Corps to a wide array of stakeholders domestically and in partner countries. 

“This is the start of a spectacular new chapter for IDinsight,” said Ruth Levine, former IDinsight CEO and current Vice President, Just Societies and Chief Learning Officer at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. “I had the privilege of working closely with Becca and know that she will bring the perfect combination of brilliance and values to this leadership role.”

Becca played a pivotal role in IDinsight’s early expansion and growth over six years, as IDinsight’s first Director of Operations (2016-2019) and then Chief Operating Officer (2019-2022). She helped lead IDinsight through a prolonged period of exponential growth, and was also instrumental in shepherding the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Becca brings to the CEO role a wealth of experience across strategy consulting, evidence-based research, and on-the-ground social entrepreneurship in resource-constrained settings. Her full bio is here.

“IDinsight is such a special organization – the team has a passion for innovation and an obsession with impact,” said Becca Gong Sharp, incoming CEO. “I am humbled to return as CEO, and look forward to working again with some of the brightest minds in the sector to help solve the most pressing problems facing humanity.” 

Becca will join IDinsight as CEO on February 26, 2024.

About IDinsight

IDinsight is a mission-driven global advisory, data analytics, and research organization that helps global development leaders maximize their social impact. We tailor a wide range of data and evidence tools, including randomized evaluations and machine learning, to help decision-makers design effective programs and rigorously test what works to support communities. We work with governments, multilateral agencies, foundations, and innovative non-profit organizations in Asia and Africa. We work across a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, education, health, governance, sanitation, and financial inclusion. We have team members who are remote and have offices in Dakar, Lusaka, Manila, Nairobi, New Delhi, and Rabat.