Abi Riak is a Senior Advisor at I4DI, where she helps organizations diagnose what’s working, fix what isn’t, and build the leadership cultures and operational systems needed to sustain performance through complexity and change. With more than 25 years of executive and advisory experience across fragile states, large international NGOs, and academic institutions, she brings a rare combination of C-suite operational discipline and deep facilitation skill — the person who can redesign a $300 million operating model and coach the leaders who have to execute it.
Abi spent nearly two decades at World Vision in progressively senior roles across four continents. As Chief Operating Officer for World Vision’s Southern Africa region, she led strategy execution, operating model design, and cross-functional performance across eight country offices, 3,000 staff, and a $300 million portfolio — driving at-risk grants from 64% down to 7%, improving leadership effectiveness by 28%, and sustaining staff engagement at 86%, well above global benchmarks. Earlier, she managed a $50 million U.S. government grant portfolio across Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, built enterprise performance scorecards adopted by global leadership, and secured World Vision’s first U.S. Department of Labor grant — a $7 million initiative in the Philippines that reduced child labor in targeted communities by 86% and catalyzed over $1.5 billion in subsequent global funding. Her career began in peacebuilding, where she pioneered the integration of Do No Harm frameworks into organizational operating systems in Sudan and across Asia Pacific, training over 2,000 staff globally.
At Duke University’s Center for Reconciliation, Abi led operations and programs for nearly eight years, guiding the organization through a founding director transition, strengthening financial resilience, and transitioning a Duke-led initiative in Africa’s Great Lakes region into a locally governed, self-sustaining organization. At I4DI, she provides technical leadership in organizational assessments, change management, strategic planning, and executive coaching.
Abi holds a Master’s in Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.A. in Economics and History from Bluffton University. She is a published author on peacebuilding and organizational development, and has worked across more than 30 countries.
