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Tjada D’Oyen McKenna is the Chief Operating Officer of Habitat for Humanity International. As Chief Operating Officer, McKenna leads the operational execution of Habitat for Humanity’s strategic plan to advance its mission, grow capacity and increase global impact. To foster overall growth and development opportunities within the organization, McKenna is bringing together global program, operational strategies and delivery across Habitat’s network of 1,400 U.S. affiliates and more than 70 country programs in Canada; Europe, Middle East and Africa; Latin America and the Caribbean; and Asia-Pacific.
Prior to joining Habitat in December, 2015, McKenna was overseeing the US government’s $3.5 billion + global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future, as its deputy coordinator for development and assistant to the administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Food Security. Before her work with the US government, she held management positions at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, McKinsey & Company, American Express and GE Consumer Finance. McKenna earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She and her husband, Joe have two young sons.
Sneak Peek Into What You’ll Learn…
01:16 – Tjada tells us more about her roles and responsibilities as Chief Operating Officer of Habitat International and how her career journey led her to this point.
07:37 – Tjada discusses her post maternity leave returns to work to a big international development role as USAID and how she managed them.
12:54 – We discuss the top pieces of advice Tjada would give to someone interested in having an international development career while raising a family.
19:14 – As she looks back over the past 10 years, Tjada tells us what, if anything, she would have done differently.
21:39 – Tjada discusses the ways in which being a mom have made her a better senior leader.
25:55 – Brass Tacks – The lightning round of concrete advice and tips.
Quotable quotes:
- “While you have the most flexibility, do as much as you can and experiment with what you want.”
- “For many women, our careers are marathons, and not a sprint…when things are calm, I’ll be more aggressive in my career…but I also know there may come a time when I may not look for the job to have the next title up.”
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