Noemi Danao-Schroeder first worked internationally as a summer volunteer for a rural vaccination campaign in Paraguay. That experience kickstarted more than 30 years of international development work. After finishing her undergraduate degree, Noemi took a nine-month volunteer assignment in Nicaragua, eventually staying in the country for nine years. During that time she founded and led a Nicaraguan nongovernmental organization (NGO) that developed the first health and environmental education curriculum for children created for, and by, rural educators. After returning to the United States, she worked as a development director for a water and reforestation NGO.

Today, she is a Vice President at DAI, responsible for the company’s portfolio of U.S. government-funded global projects. Prior to this role, she was Senior Investment Advisor on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded INVEST project, which mobilized capital for development goals. Noemi has served as Chief of Party for the USAID-funded Justice, Human Rights, and Security project in Honduras; Director of DAI’s Governance Portfolio; and Chief of Party for SERVIR, a global initiative of NASA and USAID to advance the use of geospatial information and technology for environmental decision-making.

• M.S., community development, University of California, Davis
• M.B.A, Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis
• B.A., social sciences, University of California, Berkeley