Amanda Hilligas

Amanda Hilligas, Winrock’s Associate Vice President, Global Programs, is an international trade and agribusiness management professional with 15 years of experience supporting the development of global agriculture, trade and investment initiatives. Hilligas has field experience with agriculture and investment projects in southern Africa and has contributed to the implementation of development projects in 37 countries. Before joining Winrock in 2015, Hilligas was senior vice president of the Inclusive Market Systems portfolio at ACDI/VOCA. She also provided technical support for Feed the Future projects in Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, and Kenya. As chief of party at CARANA Corporation, Hilligas managed an interagency presidential initiative on trade that included export development, value-chain competitiveness, trade facilitation, transport, and logistics. Her areas of focus are innovation, technology, and market-led solutions, including private-sector partnerships to transform smallholder production and sales. She also focuses on geospatial analysis of interventions, including taking technology to scale. Hilligas has an M.A. in international development and an M.B.A. in international business from American University; she received her undergraduate degree from Nebraska Wesleyan University.