Katherine Donohue Papillon
United States Agency for International Development
2023 fellow
Katherine Donohue Papillon serves as the Deputy Director for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) in the Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization. As an expert in contingency operations, Ms. Papillon leads teams to shape and manage locally-driven, innovative programs in post-conflict, political transition, and stabilization environments.
Most recently, she played a lead role in the conceptualization and launch of USAID’s new Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization (CPS). Prior to her position as Deputy Director, Ms. Papillon was a Division Chief in OTI overseeing budget, procurement, outreach, training, and technical support for applying OTI’s iterative, action research-based model. She has worked at OTI since 2004 in multiple positions, including a decade as Team Leader for the Latin America and Caribbean region. In this role, she provided oversight and strategic and operational guidance for OTI programs in the region and represented OTI to the interagency and broader international community. Notably, she oversaw OTI’s large post-earthquake recovery program.
Ms. Papillon served as a leader in the field with OTI in Haiti and Colombia, heading program start-up and close-out activities. She has supported OTI country assessments, program performance evaluations, and management reviews globally. Before joining OTI, Ms. Papillon managed USAID-funded projects at Chemonics International. She holds a master’s degree in international relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Michigan. As a White House Leadership Development Program Fellow, Ms. Papillon is assigned to the White House Council for Environmental Quality.
In her free time, Ms. Papillon is raising three soccer fanatic boys with her husband and loves long walks in Rock Creek Park with her dog.
