Karen Turner

Director

USAID’s Office of Development Partners (ODP)

Ms. Turner is Director of USAID’s Office of Development Partners (ODP). ODP has responsibility for providing leadership to the Agency’s efforts to build partnerships with the private sector, non-governmental organizations, cooperatives, as well as other countries and multilateral development institutions. ODP also serves as the principal point for liaison with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, as well as other US Government agencies involved in international development. ODP manages the Agency’s relationship with the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD), which is a statutory advisory board that provides advice to the Administrator on its partnership with the US university community on international agriculture development.

Ms. Turner joined USAID in 1985, working initially as a legal advisor in the General Counsel’s Office and then as a regional legal advisor in USAID Missions in Egypt and India. She has also served in USAID management positions as AID Representative for the West Bank, Deputy Mission Director in USAID/Indonesia, Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Asia Near East Bureau and, most recently, as the Mission Director for USAID/Jamaica. Prior to USAID, Ms. Turner was in private law practice with Shearman & Sterling in New York. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Political Science from Northwestern University, and a Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration degrees from Harvard University. In 2007, she was promoted to Career Minister, USAID’s highest career foreign service level.