Marina N. Barnett serves as a Program Manager for USEA’s Energy Utility Partnership Program, which strengthens the capacity of utility executives and employees in USAID-assisted countries to effectively manage and operate power systems, run financially viable businesses, develop energy resources, design off-grid power sources, and integrate different types of energy resources into their power grids. Marina manages EUPP activities in Africa and Central Asia, focusing on integration of renewable generation, power system modeling and long-term planning, power markets development and digitalization of utility operations.

Prior to joining USEA in March 2017, Marina served as a Program Officer for Eurasia at the Institute for Global Engagement, where she established a broad network of Central and South Asian experts to promote regional cooperation and sharing of knowledge and technologies and organized several successful international conferences on renewable energy and transport infrastructure in Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan. Previously, Marina managed the al-Farabi Carnegie Program on Central Asia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she co-developed and managed pilot projects on renewable energy and remote community assistance in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, organized international conferences on sustainable development and regional security issues in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; and Washington, D.C.-based seminars and conferences on political, economic, and social issues in Russia and Eurasia.

Marina holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Oriental Studies from the Far Eastern State University (Vladivostok, Russia).