Jodi Nelson has been Senior Vice President of Policy and Practice at International Rescue Committee (IRC) since February 2015.

Jodi served as the Head of Strategy, Measurement and Evaluation at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for six years, working across programme areas in global health, development, advocacy, and U.S. education. Ms. Nelson built and led the organization's global Research and Evaluation team from 2001 to 2008. Her intellectual leadership and innovative efforts to bridge the gap between academic research and field programmes started IRC on the path it is on to become a leader in evidence-based policy and practice.

Prior to working for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Jodi spent eight years at the IRC, where she led an initiative to bridge the gap between academics and aid workers to strengthen the quality of data used to effect and measure change in post-conflict countries. She founded the IRC’s department of Research, Evaluation and Learning.  

She has a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University, and has taught at Princeton and New York University.