Bama Athreya, PhD (she/her) is the Executive Director of ICRW Americas. Prior to joining ICRW, Bama served as Deputy Assistant Administrator in USAID’s Bureau for Inclusive Growth, Partnerships and Innovation where she managed global portfolios related to gender equality, child protection, youth in development and ensuring development benefits reach marginalized and underrepresented populations.

She has been a senior leader in the public and nonprofit sectors and has led interagency and multilateral engagement. Under her leadership USAID advanced important new work to strengthen care infrastructure globally and to promote gender-equitable digital development. She previously held an Economic Inequality Fellowship with Open Society Foundations focused on the digital economy, and served as a senior advisor for gender, equity and inclusion to Laudes Foundation.

She holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of Michigan.