Amanda Hilligas

Managing Director, Agribusiness

Amanda Hilligas has 10 years of management experience in the public, private and nonprofit sectors in the United States and Africa. She has worked on technical projects in 15 African countries, including Feed the Future and economic growth programs that facilitated investment and trade in agriculture. Ms. Hilligas currently serves as a technical expert and project manager for ACDI/VOCA’s agribusiness field operations and business development efforts. She manages programs in East Africa involving coffee production, staples trade, private sector alliances and livestock management. Prior to working at ACDI/VOCA, she served as chief of party at the USAID Trade Hub in Southern Africa and facilitated regional investments and agribusiness trade both regionally and with the United States. This included the conceptualization, planning and implementation of market linkage activities, trade events and strategic linkages with private sector buyers and investors that led to $70 million in new exports and investment in Southern Africa. Recently, Ms. Hilligas worked in Rwanda with a team to facilitate an innovative pilot partnership between farmers and the World Food Program’s Purchase for Progress program. Prior to her position based in Southern Africa, she worked for the International Trade Administration’s Office of Africa and focused on the U.S.-Southern African Customs Union trade negotiations in services, customs and market access. Ms. Hilligas earned an M.B.A. in international business and an M.A. in international development from the American University in Washington, D.C., and a B.A. in political science and music from Nebraska Wesleyan University. Amanda served on the board of directors of the American Business Council in Gaborone, Botswana, and has authored publications on trade and agricultural investment.