Morgan Poyant

Co-Founder and COO

Morgan is an integrator, a sharer, convener, and program manager bridging government and private sector in defense, diplomacy and development through project development and management, strategy, communications and interagency/intergovernmental coordination.  She served as the Regional Initiatives Manager in a contract role supporting the Department of State (DOS), Bureau for African Affairs, Office of Regional Peace and Security.  In this role- the first of its kind- she worked to effectively align U.S. resources for security and border management programming in Africa.  She led the development of shareable products and cooperation mechanisms that revealed gaps and opportunities for smart, efficient investments in programs across the military, security, civilian and development sectors. This is her sweet spot and her favorite work to do.

Morgan has worked previously as an analyst in support of Special Operations Command Africa, evaluating impact and strategic benefit of building partner capacity programs and making recommendations for future plans in light of the threat and socio-cultural environment.  While an Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton she served in various capacities, taking on Capabilities Based Assessments for military health, working on process engineering for peacekeeper force generation with U.S. Africa Command, and helping to map and convene interagency equities for the Joint Staff and U.S. Agency for International Development

Morgan has a unique blend of experience across development, defense, and diplomacy in Africa, having started her career at USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) where she served as Program Analyst and Officer on the Lesotho and Namibia Compacts.  She has also served as a program and policy analyst for the Governor of Arizona focusing on border security and drug trafficking, and spent several years working with a health-focused NGO throughout Africa, the Kyrgyz Republic and Dominican Republic.

Morgan is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA- Political Science) and The Maxwell School for Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University (MA-International Relations). She has found a village of women who own or run businesses and convenes a bi-monthly leadership group, and is a member of Women Impacting Public Policy’s Leadership Advisory Council. She’s a mom of 3 kids and sweeps up a lot of Goldfish dust if her dog doesn’t get to it first.  She’s an enthusiastic kitchen dance partner to her handsome husband and a big fan of her village of friends and family.  She is really into raising money to fight cancer, is pro-helping others, and is a lover of sunshine and fun.