As a senior advisor at GHV, Challiss McDonough helps partners reach their policy, advocacy, and communications objectives. She primarily supports the advocacy teams for agricultural development and nutrition at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and supported additional partners including Health Access International.
Challiss has 25 years of expertise in communications, issue-based advocacy, research, and analysis, with a focus on food security and nutrition. She has deep knowledge of the international development and humanitarian sectors and specializes in distilling complex scientific and technical issues into clear, compelling narratives that can inform decision-making. Challiss has extensive experience in management of people and projects, and a broad array of technical knowledge that includes strategy development, survey research, crisis management, logistics and supply chain management, food safety and quality control, conflict resolution, human rights, and governance and electoral systems. She also has specialized training in hostage incident management and negotiation.
Challiss has worked in more than 50 countries and lived in five. Prior to GHV, she spent a decade with the World Food Program, where she led communications and advocacy teams in Afghanistan, East Africa, and North America. She has also worked as a radio journalist and bureau chief based in Johannesburg and Cairo, covering crises that included the AIDS epidemic in southern Africa, the early years of the war in Iraq, and the 2006 conflict in southern Lebanon.
A proud product of public schools, Challiss holds a BA in English literature from Virginia Commonwealth University, and studied journalism in graduate school at the University of North Carolina. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, Jake, who owns a thriving retail store specializing in film cameras and typewriters. In her spare time, she enjoys running, hiking, kayaking, knitting, and ceramics.
Areas of Expertise:
• Issue-based advocacy strategy development& evaluation
• Messaging and crisis communications
• Food security, nutrition, and food systems
• Team management, talent development
• Content strategy, writing, editing &multimedia storytelling
• Speechwriting, public speaking & coaching