News: Chemonics Welcomes New Education and Youth Practice Director

Chemonics is pleased to announce Audrey Spencer as its new Education and Youth Practice director. Ms. Spencer is an accomplished international education professional with 13 years of experience in programming and training for literacy, teacher training, and healthy youth practices grounded in inclusive and gender-equitable foundations.

Prior to joining Chemonics, Ms. Spencer served as an education specialist for the Peace Corps Office of Overseas Programming and Training Support, where she designed and led international conferences and training events and developed global sector resource toolkits for designing and implementing literacy and STEM programs worldwide. Ms. Spencer spearheaded Peace Corps’ flagship education initiative, Read for Life, which focused on reducing functional illiteracy by strengthening education and youth programs across sub-Saharan Africa. Previously, Ms. Spencer has held roles as an elementary school principal, a literacy specialist, and is a founding educator at three high-achieving startup schools with Aspire Public Schools in Los Angeles, California. Her work has taken her to 22 countries across Africa, the Americas, and most recently to Central Asia, where she provided technical assistance to the USAID Read with Me project in Tajikistan.

“We are thrilled to have Audrey join Chemonics,” said Chemonics’ East and Southern Africa Region Senior Vice President Emet Mohr. “She has a great deal of experience in global education and youth development, and a proven track record in the international development field. Her experience forging successful partnerships between governments, the public sector, and the private sector will enhance our efforts to apply sustainable, locally-appropriate solutions and strengthen outcomes around the world.”

As practice director, Ms. Spencer will provide technical leadership on education and crosscutting youth activities that address positive youth development, enabling learning environments and inclusive instructional practices, education systems strengthening, and policy reform. She will also lead efforts to track, analyze, and share development trends and innovations that affect the education and youth sectors. Chemonics’ Education and Youth Practice portfolio currently includes 19 projects worldwide.

Ms. Spencer holds a master’s degree in education, curriculum, and instruction and a bachelor’s degree of applied science in elementary education and teaching from New Mexico State University.