
Sara Pantuliano
Chief Executive, ODI Global
Sara is Chief Executive at ODI, where she was previously Managing Director. She has been appointed by the UN Secretary-General as an Independent Eminent Person for the 2025 peacebuilding architecture review, and earlier served as the Chair of his Seventh Advisory Group of the UN Peacebuilding Fund. She is a member of the High-Level Group on Humanitarian and Resilience Investing initiative of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Managing Editor of Disasters journal and Trustee of the Board of Muslim Aid. She has led a high-profile UN response in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, acted as an observer at the IGAD Sudan peace process and lectured at the University of Dar es Salaam. Sara has served on a range of executive and advisory boards, including The New Humanitarian, SOS Sahel, Oxford University’s Refugee Studies Centre, the UN Association of the UK and UNFPA’s ICPD25 High-Level Commission. She holds a doctorate in Politics and International Studies from the University of Leeds and has written extensively on conflict and humanitarian affairs. She was made a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for services to peacebuilding, humanitarian assistance and international development. She is the creator and host of ODI’s flagship podcast ‘Think Change’.