Avery Ouellette

Avery Ouellette is Director of Private Sector Engagement at RTI who develops and leads the International Development Group’s private sector engagement (PSE) strategy and climate finance-related collaborations. In this role, Ms. Ouellette facilitates creative processes to address complex systems-level issues through strategic collaborations among public and private sector entities. Her areas of expertise are fostering trust among diverse actors, developing data-driven insights to inspire collective action, and transforming organizational cultures.

Before joining RTI, Ms. Ouellette was a Senior Partnership Advisor at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In this role, she trained over 1,000 Agency staff, led the Agency’s approach for measuring the value of private sector engagement, launched and managed the global relationship managers network, and assisted more than 30 overseas missions with developing PSE strategies. Ms. Ouellette also served as the Senior Learning Advisor for USAID/Uganda where she led the Mission’s efforts to transform itself into an adaptive learning organization and embed collaboration, learning, and adaptation (CLA) into its multi-billion-dollar portfolio. In addition to her USAID experience, Ms. Ouellette has advised other USG Agencies, USAID implementing partners, and private sector companies on their PSE approaches, with an emphasis on multi-stakeholder collaborations using systems thinking and human-centered design approaches.