Executive Office

Chief Executive Officer

Mirza Jahani
Dr. Mirza Jahani is the Chief Executive Officer of Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. Since joining AKF USA in November 2009, Mirza has focused on widening and deepening partnerships with US-based organizations, strengthening support for the Aga Khan Development Network's (AKDN) civil society development portfolio and promoting impact investments for AKDN projects in Africa and Asia as a way to boost development resources and foster public-private partnerships. Before that he served for 15 years as CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation in the United Kingdom, East Africa and Tajikistan, helping to conceptualize, implement and secure funding for programs in rural development, health, education, and civil society, often in post-conflict environments. Mirza began his career in the early 1980s as an economist with the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). He served with DFID again from 2004 to 2009 as Senior Governance Advisor in Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, Central Asia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
 
Mirza was born in Uganda and educated at London, Harvard and Cambridge Universities, where he earned his doctorate in 2009. He and his wife Nazira have two children, Rabia and Rumi.
 

Executive Staff

Evan Gill, Executive Research Analyst
Evan Gill is the Executive Research Analyst at the Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. She leads the Foundation’s Impact Investing Initiative that focuses on mobilizing US capital for high-impact social enterprises, preparing the Foundation to make Mission Related Investments, and supporting infrastructure in the impact investing sector.  Evan also plays a leadership role in developing the Foundation’s academic partnerships, including managing the AKF USA Policy Extern Program.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Evan conducted research on international tradable services and domestic wage inequality at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. She also has contributed to strategy development and research for a number of international development organizations, including SNV Netherlands Development Organization, Women for Women International, Society for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy. Evan holds a Master's degree in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles and a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from Brown University.

Sharon Bayolo, Executive Assistant
Sharon Bayolo is the Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer at Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. She joined the Foundation in July 2010 as the Administrative Assistant and became the Executive Assistant to the CEO in January 2010.

Sharon is a classically trained musician and has a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Shenandoah University and a Master’s degree in Chamber Music Performance from the University of Michigan. She has taught band to private school students in Maryland and Washington, DC and performed with numerous small music groups, orchestras and musical theaters at the Kennedy Center, DAR Constitution Hall, embassies and musical theatres in the Washington, DC metro area as well as in Michigan.