Samantha Bastian

Samantha Bastian has a diverse work experience spanning different industries and roles. Their most recent position was as the Chief Operating Officer at the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics, where they started in January 2021.

Before that, Samantha worked at Evidence Action for several years. Samantha held the role of Director, Global Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation from September 2019 to December 2020. In this role, they led a team of over 60 staff to design and deliver monitoring, learning, and evaluation needs for four scaling programs across eight countries. Samantha also streamlined team budgeting and expense tracking, improved operational quality, and managed team morale and productivity during organizational strategy changes and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to their role as Director, Samantha was the Director of Innovation at Evidence Action from August 2015 to August 2019. In this position, they led the design and scale strategies for new health, education, and livelihood programs in South Asia and Africa. Samantha hired and trained a team of over 20 staff, built partnerships with governments and academics, and managed donors for multiple programs.

Samantha also has experience at Abt Associates as a Research Manager, where they evaluated the impact, delivery, and commercial viability of health initiatives funded by USAID and the Gates Foundation. At Institute for Financial Management & Research (IFMR), they worked as a Research Associate, and at FICCI as a Junior Economist.

Samantha has also held research and teaching positions at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and Harvard Business School. Additionally, Samantha has contributed as a Research Intern at Praja Foundation and as a Research Intern with Dr. Edward Glaeser at Harvard University's Taubman Centre.

Overall, Samantha Bastian has a strong background in program management, monitoring and evaluation, research, and team leadership across various sectors and organizations.

Samantha Bastian's education history begins in 2003 when they attended St. Xavier's College and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics with a focus on Statistics in 2006. Samantha then pursued further education at the University of Mumbai and earned a Master of Arts degree in Economics from 2006 to 2008.

In 2007, Samantha participated in the Koch Fellowship Program at George Mason University. While the field of study for this program is unspecified, they gained valuable experience during this time.

Their academic journey continued in 2014 at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Samantha completed a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree with a specialization in Social Business in 2015.

In addition to their formal education, Samantha obtained a certification as an IBL@Oxford Social Enterprise and Impact Investing Fellow from Impact Business Leaders in September 2015.