Rajiv Shah will step down as U.S. Agency for International Development administrator in February next year.
The announcement comes nearly five years after Shah first took office and after months of rumors and speculation that he might be moving on from the agency. To do what, is anyone’s guess — and plenty have tried to make predictions. Many have speculated that Shah might run for public office, and a flurry of Indian press outlets briefly suggested he was in the mix to be the next ambassador to India.
With Shah’s departure from USAID, the White House will consider candidates to replace him. Barring a new appointment, Deputy Administrator Alfonso Lenhardt would step into the role of acting administrator until a permanent administrator is nominated and confirmed. The process leading to Shah’s appointment took almost a year.
About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
