My Biography
Dr. Britan received his BA and PhD in anthropology from Columbia University. He has more than 35 years experience planning, managing, and evaluating international development programs, serving as Director of USAID’s Center for Development Information and Evaluation (1996-2002) and as Director of USAID’s Office of Management Policy, Performance and Administration (2002-2008). Before joining USAID, Dr. Britan taught at Northwestern University and served as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at SIU-E. After retiring from USAID in 2011, he served as Senior Management/Evaluation Advisor for USAID/Philippines, USAID/Pacific Islands and USAID/Mongolia. Since 2015 he has worked independently as an international development consultant. Dr. Britan’s doctoral research focused on economic decision-making during processes of social change in an isolated Newfoundland fishing/farming community. Over the past 40 years, he has designed, managed and led dozens of research and evaluation studies throughout Africa, Asia and the US, and taught graduate courses in development management, research design and evaluation at GWU & JHU/SAIS. Dr. Britan is a two-time recipient of Vice President Gore’s “hammer award” for reinventing government. He has authored four books, dozens of articles, and scores of professional papers in the fields of anthropology, international development, program evaluation, and public management. Gerald attended his first AAA Annual Meeting in New Orleans in 1973, when the gathering was still relatively small and intimate, most participants had at least some acquaintances in common and job-hunting (one of his primary concerns) was rather disorganized and informal. Gerald attended his most recent AAA meeting in Washington, DC in 2017, where the crowds were large, popular events packed (but obscure topics still lightly attended) and job hunting (in which he had little interest) nearly invisible.