Sonali Korde has taken the reins of the USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, or BHA, the agency’s lead responder to disasters, conflict, and crises worldwide. Last year, the bureau responded to 76 crises in 64 countries, managing billions of dollars in emergency programming.
“In order to do this work, we have to defend it. And we have no better and more persuasive advocator, and advocate, and connector than Sonali up on the Hill as our resources hang in the balance,” said USAID Administrator Samantha Power, speaking at Korde’s swearing-in ceremony on Monday in Washington.
Korde is coming to the bureau after nearly two decades at USAID, where she most recently served as deputy assistant to the administrator for the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance. In that role, she worked as the Deputy to the U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues, where she was charged with leading U.S. diplomacy efforts to address the continued humanitarian crisis in Gaza.