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Stanford '04

Nadiya Figueroa

Dr. Nadiya Figueroa has a passion for facilitating human, community and organizational development that empowers leaders to transform themselves, their societies and the wider world. She has honed her grounded, holistic and dynamic approach to developmental processes through roles across the public, philanthropy, education and advocacy sectors.

Born and raised in the Caribbean, as a graduate student Nadiya was the design lead on the team that founded the first public policy think tank in the english speaking Caribbean (CaPRI). She led engagement for the good governance organization in Jamaica that would become a chapter of Transparency International, championing transparency in political campaign financing and greater attention to the impacts of corruption on women, students and community development. Early in her career she worked on the national partnership program in the Office of the Prime Minister in Jamaica, mandated to integrate development policy, planning and strategy. More recently, Nadiya served as the first Dean of Scholarships and Director of Leadership and Change for the Rhodes Trust, steering developmental programming and the experience for Rhodes Scholars in Oxford beyond their academics. Nadiya has lent her insights on leadership learning, cohort and community building and frameworks for lifelong engagement to eminent global programs, including the Schwarzman Scholarships in China, Harambe (African Entrepreneurship Collective), the Schmidt Science Fellows, Schmidt Entrepreneurs in Residence and the Commonwealth Emerging Leaders Dialogues. 

Nadiya has degrees in anthropology and history from Stanford, in political-economy from the University of the West Indies and in international development from Oxford University, where she studied as a Jamaica Rhodes Scholar. Her doctoral research examined the legitimization of emergent leaders and institutions in a post colonial developing society, their contestation of the status quo via currencies of trust, respect and morality. 

As the principal of No One Way Solutions Nadiya provides strategic advisory, program design and facilitation to transformational initiatives. Current projects include the design and facilitation of an ecosystem approach to digital transformation with the National Commission on Technology in Jamaica; and, the research, design and strategy of a community based violence intervention project, targeting the twenty one most at risk communities nationally, with the leadership of the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica. She serves on the Global Advisory Board of the Knight-Hennessy Scholarships as well as on the Selection and Outreach Committee of the Rhodes Scholarship Trustees.