Allyson Brown Kenney
Ms. Brown Kenney is a mission-driven international development professional committed to social justice and access to quality health care. A respected international humanitarian and development professional with more than two decades of experience as both practitioner and executive, Ms. Brown Kenney collaborates with partners to ensure that humanitarian actors are equipped to lead effective and creative responses to alleviate suffering and save lives.
A social work public health professional by trade, her areas of expertise include program development and coordination, advocacy and representation, curriculum development and training, and partnership building. She has utilized these skills in complex environments, in both emergency and development settings with a focus on maternal and child health. Extensive work in Bangladesh, Haiti, and Rwanda, and collaboration with national and international NGO partners has deepened her commitment to improving health outcomes for vulnerable communities and providing dynamic and relevant training opportunities that help learners build their skills, knowledge, and confidence to take on leadership responsibilities. As a lecturer, she strives to create an inclusive learning environment whereby students feel empowered to bring their authentic selves to the classroom.
For close to fourteen years, she held a variety of positions at Concern Worldwide US. Most recently, she served as the Director for the National NGO Program on Humanitarian Leadership (NNPHL), a consortium led by Concern in partnership with Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and International Medical Corps, which provides training to the next generation of humanitarian leaders. Prior to leading NNPHL for five years, she managed Concern’s Child Survival grant funding and provided technical and liaison support to Concern’s maternal and child health programs; oversaw the organization’s active global citizenship program, which included advocacy efforts focusing on Concern’s food security and nutrition portfolio; and served as Concern’s acting Operations Director (2010), managing technical and operational staff, overseeing emergency and development US government grants, providing high-level representation, and temporarily deploying to Haiti for the 2010 earthquake response.
Earlier, Ms. Brown Kenney worked with other international and domestic mission-driven organizations, including managing socioeconomic reintegration programs at the World Rehabilitation Fund and coordinating services for New York City families affected by 9/11. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Peace and Conflict Studies from the College of the Holy Cross, and a Master of Science in Social Work degree and Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University.