Anna Zisa

Background

About Anna Zisa

When I was ten years old, I visited a landfill site. The school bus drove through mountains of garbage as far as the eye could see. The humblest of families’ settlements were submerged in the repulsive smell. Ten years later, I went to a farm which generated electricity with biogas from the cows’ manure. I was astonished to learn that sales from the transformed and inevitable cow waste were higher than milk sales. Since then, I am enthusiastic about designing smart systems that optimize resource use, systems that can generate environmental and social value in addition to financial value. I map out the system by curiously asking the right questions and listening carefully. I obsessively scout for information to understand how the parts are interconnected and how change occurs. My multi-cultural background (lived in 5 countries) combined with my analytical and solutions-driven spirit brought me to evaluate social interventions. For the past six years, I’ve designed and led monitoring frameworks to measure progress against planned results for water, sanitation and hygiene projects in a dozen countries. I love feeling useful by improving processes and geek out on providing the evidence needed for decision-making. When I am not at work, I am planning a hiking or cross-country ski weekend, sharing meals with friends, or learning something new through reading or listening to podcasts (my go-to's include RadioLab, Science Vs, The Daily, This American Life…).