Executive Office

Chief Executive Officer

Mirza Jahani

Dr. Mirza Jahani is the Chief Executive Officer of Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. Since joining AKF USA in November 2009, Mirza has focused on widening and deepening partnerships with US-based organizations, strengthening support for the Aga Khan Development Network's (AKDN) civil society development portfolio and promoting impact investments for AKDN projects in Africa and Asia as a way to boost development resources and foster public-private partnerships. Before that he served for 15 years as CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation in the United Kingdom, East Africa and Tajikistan, helping to conceptualize, implement and secure funding for programs in rural development, health, education, and civil society, often in post-conflict environments. Mirza began his career in the early 1980s as an economist with the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). He served with DFID again from 2004 to 2009 as Senior Governance Advisor in Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, Central Asia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
    
Mirza was born in Uganda and educated at London, Harvard and Cambridge Universities, where he earned his doctorate in 2009. He and his wife Nazira have two children, Rabia and Rumi.
 

Executive Staff

Amin Virani, Executive Research Analyst

Amin Virani is the Executive Analyst at the Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. His work focuses on a series of priorities ranging from organizational effectiveness to supporting cross-cutting projects. Prior to taking on this role, he served as a consultant for the Impact Investing Initiative.

His previous experience includes working in various strategic coordination, advisory and management capacities within the Canada Border Services Agency’s International & Partnerships Directorate. He has also served as a Liaison Officer for the World Bank Group’s International Program for Development Evaluation Training, and as an Assistant Project Officer with the United Nations Association in Canada to develop and support national programs – anti-racism and sustainable development. Amin has a Bachelors of Public Affairs and Policy Management with a specialization in International Studies from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

Sharon Bayolo, Executive Assistant

Sharon Bayolo is the Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer at Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. She joined the Foundation in July 2010 as the Administrative Assistant and became the Executive Assistant to the CEO in January 2010.

Sharon is a classically trained musician and has a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Shenandoah University and a Master’s degree in Chamber Music Performance from the University of Michigan. She has taught band to private school students in Maryland and Washington, DC and performed with numerous small music groups, orchestras and musical theaters at the Kennedy Center, DAR Constitution Hall, embassies and musical theatres in the Washington, DC metro area as well as in Michigan.