As Managing Director, Saadia led the Foundation’s work on Innovative Finance, overseeing its ‘Zero Gap’ portfolio. Her responsibilities included developing next-generation finance mechanisms and large-scale blended finance funds that mobilize private sector capital towards the SDGs. Her work directly supported the Foundation’s mission of promoting the well-being of humanity throughout the world.
Saadia has been featured in numerous publications such as the Financial Times, Bloomberg, BBC, and the Wall Street Journal Live, among others, and frequently speaks at industry and finance events to advance the idea of innovative finance as a mainstream instrument of social policy. She is a frequent author as well, having contributed pieces to Foreign Affairs, Project Syndicate, Fortune.com, Business Insurance, and many other publications.
Before joining The Rockefeller Foundation, Saadia was senior vice president for Strategic Planning at the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Prior to NYCEDC, she was an associate principal at McKinsey & Company.