Komal Bazaz Smith works at the nexus between social impact, strategy and tech for good. She is passionate about using her client relationship, influencing and advocacy skills to design and build smart and impactful activities that improve the lives of others. Komal has more than 22 years of multi-sectoral experience advising clients including global Fortune 500 corporations, philanthropic organizations, social entrepreneurs, research institutions/ universities, and government agencies in the U.S. and globally. She has led strategic consulting projects for DAI, R4D, Arabella Philanthropic Advisors, Booz Allen and Accenture, and co-founded the non-profit Kashmiri Institute, focused on creating partnerships and building language and cultural awareness in the diaspora community.
Today, she is the Chief Business Officer at the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA), helping GCA grow its footprint by being able to bring its significant intellectual capital, skills, and tools to the international realm. She is working to lead and raise GCA’s profile amongst the influential partners all working to sustain a trustworthy Internet that enables social and economic progress for all.
Recently, she was the Project Director of the USAID Digital Connectivity & Cybersecurity Partnership Programs at DAI Global, LLC, supporting USAID’s Innovation, Technology, and Research (ITR) Hub, a $25m suite of 55 discrete initiatives working in 20 countries across the globe – working at the highest level of government at the policy level and at the grassroots level, building SMEs and other civil society actors that are better digitally enabled, aware, resilient, and deeper critical thinkers after we have worked with them – so that they can engage more effectively and sustainably in the digital economy, and providing smart and strategic assistance to help partner countries harness the economic power of an open, reliable, interoperable, inclusive, and secure digital economy.
Ms. Bazaz Smith holds an M.Sc. in International Commerce & Finance, and an honors International Business Diplomacy certificate from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and a B.A. Comparative Area Studies, Spanish, and Markets & Management degree from Duke University.
