Nazgul Abdrazakova is the President of SSG Advisors, providing overall leadership and direction.  She is responsible for company strategy, contract administration, finance and human resources.  Ms Abdrazakova has more than a decade of experience working and managing a variety of USAID and World Bank-funded projects around the world.  In Central Asia, she served as a technical specialist on a series of privatization related projects for companies such as Carana Corporation, Barents Group, PriceWaterhouse Coopers and others.  She also served as a finance manager for a Global Environmental Facility-funded project in Kazakhstan.   Fluent in English, Kyrgyz and Russian, Ms Abdrazakova has a degree in economics and advanced certificates in portfolio finance.

Steve Schmida is Director at SSG Advisors, leading the company’s technical services and serving as a thought leader in international development and corporate social responsibility.   He is responsible for business development, project design and management.  Mr. Schmida has 15 years experience in international development and corporate social responsibility.  Prior to SSG Advisors, he served as Regional Director for the Eurasia Foundation in Russia and in Central Asia.  Fluent in Russian and English, Mr. Schmida holds an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Emilie Kornheiser is a Project Analyst at SSG Advisors, where she focuses on conducting client research and organizing field team deployments.  She is an experienced international development professional with a proven track record in researching and implementing programs at the intersection of the public, private and non-profit spheres. At SSG-Advisors, Ms. Kornheiser worked on projects with the US Department of State, USAID’s Global Development Alliance, and the Inter-American Development Bank. Ms. Kornheiser has worked with vulnerable and transitional populations both locally and globally. Ms. Kornheiser holds an MA from the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics at the University of Vermont.

Tom Buck is a Project Manager at SSG Advisors, providing management and technical support to SSG government and corporate clients alike.  With SSG, he has designed and managed a number of projects focused on developing effective corporate social responsibility strategies for multi-national corporations working in the developing world.  Prior to joining SSG Advisors, he served as a program officer for the Institute for Sustainable Communities and as a research analyst for USAID. Mr. Buck holds an MA from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. He is a dual US-French citizen and speaks fluent French.

Dan Hopkins is a Project Assistant with SSG Advisors. He studied Mathematics at Columbia University and Dartmouth College. After graduating in 2010, he spent a year teaching Biology, Reading, Debate and Frisbee in the Marshall Islands. When he grew tired of eternal summer and returned to the Northeast, he discovered that his time in the islands had awakened an interest in international development and foreign cultures. Eager to continue exploring this interest, he moved to Vermont and started work with SSG.

Mehrdad (MBA, MSc, LEAD Fellow) is the CSR & ESIA Practice Leader and Director of Prizma with over 20 years of international experience. He contributes to and trouble shoots bankable environmental and social impact assessments (recent projects: Armenia, Tibet and Venezuela). Mehrdad also provides advisory services and training focused on IFC Performance Standards, Equator Principles and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). He currently serves as an expert witness on an international arbitration case before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington DC, and has also advised IFC/MIGA’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman office. Previously, Mehrdad served as a Principal Environmental Specialist at the European Bank (EBRD, London), conducting environmental and social appraisal and monitoring for an investment portfolio exceeding $2 billion (extractives, infrastructure, intermediated financing); CSR Research Director at CoreRatings, London (formerly part of Fitch, divested to DNV/Innovest), advising responsible investors/asset managers; and Project Manager with Dames & Moore (now URS), conducting environmental, health & safety audits and remedial investigation of brownfields. Mehrdad studied geosciences and business administration in Germany, USA (Fulbright grantee) and the UK. He is also a Fellow of Rockefeller Foundation’s Leadership for Environment & Development program. Mr. Nazari speaks fluent German, English, and has a working proficiency with Farsi.