Sharon Lazich is a governance and risk leader with 15+ years of federal executive experience managing large-scale portfolios at the intersection of policy, technology, and international development. As a Foreign Service Officer with USAID, she stewarded up to $3B in program investments across Pakistan, Kenya, and Ukraine — leading cross-functional teams of 30+ professionals in high-conflict and politically complex environments. She holds an active Top Secret clearance.

Sharon's career spans some of the most consequential foreign policy moments of the past decade. She helped secure $2.5B in U.S. assistance to Ukraine by leading interagency coordination during a high-stakes foreign assistance review, directed a $270M humanitarian response following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and executed a $3B portfolio realignment across 120 initiatives in Kenya. These weren't staff roles — she was in the room making decisions under pressure.

She holds a master's degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and was competitively selected as a Presidential Management Fellow — a distinction reserved for top emerging leaders in federal service. Through the Fellowship, she worked at USAID in Washington and Jakarta, and served as a Policy Analyst in NASA's Science Mission Directorate. She is currently completing a Master of Science in AI Management and Policy at Purdue University and is actively building expertise at the intersection of AI governance, institutional risk, and emerging technology policy. 

With USAID's dismantlement in 2025, Sharon is now pursuing roles in AI governance, space and defense technology, or public sector transformation — where her combination of executive experience, project management skills, and emerging AI expertise can drive institutional change at scale.

Outside of work, she reads widely across history and science, has a long-standing interest in astronomy and systems thinking, and takes direction from her Resident Dog Advisor, Ollie-Wan Nairobi.