Kantar Public expands development practice in Washington DC

Amy Kracker-Selzer has joined as vice-president of technical leadership, while Gael O’Sullivan has been appointed to the newly created role of social and behaviour change director and Anshikka Singh Larsson (pictured) takes up the role of director of new programme and business development.

Singh Larsson joins Kantar Public from International Business & Technical Consultants Inc (IBTCI), where she led and implemented new business development strategies. She has over ten years’ experience in business and programme development within both for-profit and non-profit organisations.

Singh Larsson brings experience in a range of development sectors, including conflict and crisis, democracy and governance, agriculture and food security, economic growth, education, environment, climate change and global health. Prior to IBTCI, she worked for ChildFund International, where she supported their offices in east and southern Africa.

In her new role, she is responsible for identifying and advancing Kantar Public’s strategic and funding partnerships with US government donors, foreign governments and multilateral institutions.

Amy Kracker-Selzer brings over 15 years’ experience in international development. Joining from the American Research Institute/IMPAQ where she held the position of managing director for its international development division, she has worked in academia and supported international donors such as USAID, Millennium Challenge Corporation, UNICEF and the Bureau of International Labour Affairs across various development sectors.

Kracker-Selzer has managed projects in a number of countries, including South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Bosnia, Myanmar, Brazil, and Mexico.

In her new role, she will lead Kantar Public’s development practice technical work, providing technical and scientific guidance in the design and implementation of monitoring, evaluation and learning programmes and strategic research projects, as well as data science approaches.

Gael O’Sullivan is a social and behaviour change thought leader with more than 30 years’ experience of applying health communication, advocacy and marketing skills to projects promoting health in the US and more than 40 other countries for the US Agency for International Development, the World Bank and the National Cancer Institute, as well as private foundations.

An adjunct professor at Georgetown University, O’Sullivan joins Kantar Public from Abt Associates with a successful track record in designing, implementing and evaluating strategies to shift social norms and individual behaviour change on issues such as family planning, reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, malaria, maternal and child health, alcohol harm reduction, nutrition, pandemic threats, gender equity and early marriage.

Building upon Kantar Public’s behaviour change framework, O’Sullivan will provide technical and scientific leadership to design and implement social and behaviour change strategies, programmes, evaluations and tools.

Commenting on the three recent appointments, Caroline Connolly, chief executive of Kantar Public’s development practice, said: “With Anshikka, Amy and Gael we add three outstanding experts in international development to our fast-growing practice at an exciting time of change and innovation.

“Their impeccable track records in their respective fields, their deep understanding of local contexts in African, south and southeast Asian, and eastern European countries, plus their close relationships with US government clients, UN agencies, multilateral organisations and various non-government stakeholders, make them the ideal partners for both our clients and our teams across the globe and in Washington DC. Each of them will play an instrumental role in the next phase of our growth.”