For Media Producers: Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer of Mercy Corps

Tjada d’oyen mckenna sitting in living space.

As Chief Executive Officer of Mercy Corps, Tjada D’Oyen McKenna leads a global team of over 5,400 humanitarians who provide immediate relief to save lives and livelihoods and work to create transformational change reaching 50 million people in more than 40 countries. Previously, she served as Chief Operating Officer of CARE, where she oversaw the organization’s programming and global operations, and as Chief Operating Officer of Habitat for Humanity International. Tjada’s career has spanned the private sector, government and the social services sector.

Tjada can provide expertise and commentary on the biggest international issues making headlines - from inequitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to climate change as the biggest threat multiplier to conflict and poverty to refugee crises and conflicts spanning Mercy Corps’ 40+ countries of operation in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Tjada is also a recognized authority on food security and hunger. She is currently the only African American woman at the helm of an international aid organization. She can speak about issues of colonialism and white saviorism in the humanitarian aid and development sector, and of gender, racial and ethnic diversity in C-Suite leadership. She can join interviews virtually or in-studio in Washington, DC. To book Tjada as an interview guest, please contact Lynn Hector at lhector@mercycorps.org.

Click here for Tjada’s full bio, and connect with her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Recent appearances

At The New York Times' October 2021 "Netting Zero" virtual event series leading up to #COP26 in Glasgow, Tjada conveyed the urgency of climate adaptation to help the communities already facing the impacts of the climate crisis today. To see more of her recent appearances, please click here.

“We protect America by taking a global approach to COVID. If anything, what we’ve learned over the last year is that this virus does not respect borders and that we are more deeply interconnected than we ever thought we were.”

- Tjada on OPB Think Out Loud

Tjada in the news

World Economic Forum

Opinion: Trillions are being committed to climate mitigation, but what about climate adaptation?

Harvard Business School Alumni Bulletin

In the wake of an abuse scandal and a clean sweep of leadership at Mercy Corps, Tjada D’Oyen McKenna gets the humanitarian aid organization back to the business of helping others

Thomson Reuters Foundation

Opinion: To fix our food systems, we need tech that truly works for smallholder farmers

Tjada D’Oyen McKenna standing in front of painting.

“In conflict zones and places hosting refugees and internally displaced people, vaccines are likely to become yet another scarce resource that is contested – with the potential for escalating tension and conflict as a result. The international community must ensure through diplomatic pressure and on-the-ground support that vaccines reach all communities, including the most vulnerable and marginalised, in ways that prevent grievances and conflict.”

- Tjada in The Guardian, January 1, 2021

Recent statements

Statement on the Biden Administration's Purchase of 500 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses to Donate Globally

Statement on the Verdict Reached in the Trial of Derek Chauvin

Countries Facing Highest Levels of Conflict Likely to be Among the Last to Achieve Widespread COVID-19 Vaccination

“Never before have we faced a humanitarian crisis of this magnitude. For millions of people, this pandemic has exacerbated hunger, poverty, conflict and gender inequality — all of which have the potential to be equally or even more deadly than the virus itself.”

- Tjada at the National Press Club, March 25, 2021

Interested in booking Tjada as a guest?