Conor Savoy is a leading expert with nearly 20 years of experience focused on the nexus between global development, international economics, and national security. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD) in Washington, DC. From 2023-2025, he served in two different capacities at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). As the lead for foreign policy engagement, Conor’s team was responsible for supporting agency leadership on counter-PRC efforts, infrastructure development, and elevating development issues within the national security interagency. Prior to this role, he was a senior policy advisor in the Office of Development of Cooperation, where he advised agency leadership on multilateral development bank (MDB) policy and infrastructure development. Prior to the government, Conor was a senior fellow with the Project on Prosperity and Development at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC. In that role he worked on a wide variety of projects that focused on the nexus between U.S. foreign policy and international development, including co-directing the CSIS Ukraine Economic Reconstruction Commission.
Earlier, Conor was the executive director of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN), a diverse advocacy coalition focused on increased effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance. At MFAN, he worked closely with U.S. government development agencies, implementing partners, Congress, and other stakeholders to advance a positive aid reform agenda focused on accountability and increased local ownership. He also worked as the director of policy and advocacy for the Global Innovation Fund, a social first impact investor backed by the U.S. government and other bilateral donors. From 2011-2017, Conor served as deputy director of the Project on Prosperity and Development at CSIS, where he helped build an innovative research program focused on the evolving role of the private sector in international development.
Conor is a member of the Board of Trustees of Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, MA, his alma mater. He has also taught as an adjunct lecturer in American University's School of Public Administration, teaching a graduate level course on comparative public administrative systems. In his roles, Conor has frequently consulted with U.S. government agencies, NGOs and other implementing partners, and the private sector on evolving trends in international development. He has published widely on U.S. foreign policy, aid reform, development finance, and other emerging trends in international development. Conor holds an MA in international relations from Boston University and a BA with honors in history from George Washington University.
