Greg Olson is an experienced development specialist with a geographic focus on the Middle East, East Africa, and South Asia. In the Middle East region, he has worked in Egypt, Yemen, West Bank/Gaza, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and South Sudan. He has held senior management positions, including Chief of Party, on seven projects in transitional/post-conflict areas. His work has often been at the intersection of humanitarian assistance and sustainable development, with experience in livelihoods, agriculture, water & sanitation, education, governance and community development. He has additional expertise in contract management, project start-up and close-out and monitoring, evaluation and learning. Mr. Olson’s recent management assignments have involved replacing a previous individual and he enjoys the challenge of providing management leadership to help teams stay on track. Mr. Olson’s most recent long-term position was as Chief of Party at the USAID Egypt performance management, monitoring and evaluation project (SIMPLE - 2016 – 2018), where he led the team in a five-fold increase in activities during this tenure. Mr. Olson has an undergraduate degree in cultural anthropology and Scandinavian studies from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota and advanced degrees in international management (Thunderbird) and education (American University in Cairo). He is fluent in Arabic and Swedish and resides in Wisconsin and Cairo, Egypt when not on assignment.