Wendy Peter Abt

Wendy Peter Abt joined USAID in 2010 as the deputy assistant administrator for the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment. Abt’s portfolio includes private sector engagement, entrepreneurship, inclusive finance and education.

Abt has extensive experience in commercial and turnaround banking, bank management consulting and public policy research. She has worked in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Lesotho and Ghana serving as adviser to ministers of finance and Central Bank governors on bank restructuring, privatizations, credit risk management and pricing. She was the general partner of Africa International Financial Holdings (AIFH), a private equity fund investing in the financial sector in Africa, and subsequently has worked with large international investors in the African banking sector. Prior to her work in emerging markets,  Abt assembled domestic investor groups to acquire control positions of undervalued or under-performing U.S.-based commercial banks and thrifts, serving as chairman of a high performance thrift acquired on behalf of the limited partnership. She was also a managing director at Bank of Boston. 

Abt spent over 10 years in public policy research, first in Africa and then in the United States with the African American Institute in New York, and Abt Associates in Cambridge, Mass. Most recently, on behalf of Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Labs (J-PAL) and Innovations for Poverty Action, she co-led a national scale-up of a low-cost approach to remedial education in Ghana.

Abt received a bachelor's degree in economics and government from Connecticut College, and holds a master’s degree from Harvard University’s School of Education.