AN OFFICER IN THE U.S. ARMY RESERVE. Various positions at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), culminating as the international development agency’s chief executive. An award-winning member of the Massachusetts State Legislature. A prolific author, including of the book The Great North Korean Famine, which raised awareness of the scope and scale of catastrophic starvation on the peninsula.
These are just some of the many areas where Andrew Natsios MPA 1979 has made a difference during his half century of public service. From Boston to Darfur and too many other places to list, Natsios has used his managerial acumen, keen insight, and deep understanding of systemic reforms to improve the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
Says Natsios, “President George H.W. Bush once wrote that public service is a noble calling. I very much believe that and have chosen that as my life’s work.”
Natsios began his public service career in 1975 as a legislator in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, a position he held while he earned his degree at the Kennedy School. As an elected representative, Natsios focused on fiscal reform, coauthoring a signature law to limit property taxes, known as Proposition 2 ½; he also worked on issues including land use and education.
While in the legislature, he befriended another state representative, Andrew Card, who later served as President George H.W. Bush’s deputy chief of staff. This connection led Natsios to USAID, where he first held leadership positions at the agency’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance and its Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance. Here, he helped countries including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iraq, and Pakistan recover after wars or natural disasters; he also raised awareness of and implemented solutions to hunger and famine in Africa and Asia.
“I believe that integrity is nonnegotiable and public officials of either party who ignore that principle compromise the common good and public interest.”
Later, as USAID administrator—a job he held during 9/11 and its aftermath—he restructured and reformed the agency with a new focus on addressing root causes of instability, ensuring that funding requests did not discriminate against people with disabilities, and concentrating on efforts that had a high potential for impact.
In 2006, President George W. Bush appointed Natsios as the special envoy to Sudan, where a civil war had led to ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and famine. Natsios recommended U.S. policies to address the crises and helped implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which had been signed a year earlier and which led to the independence of South Sudan in 2011.
“Sudan and South Sudan have been a major focus of my international work,” says Natsios. “The scale of violence and destruction over decades is hard for outsiders to comprehend. While the U.S. diplomatic and humanitarian efforts have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, the Sudanese must ultimately take ownership of their future or the bloodshed will never end.”
Throughout his career, he has moved seamlessly among local, state, and federal governments as well as the public and nonprofit sectors. He served for five years as vice president of World Vision U.S.A., where he led the global Christian humanitarian organization’s partnerships with the U.S. government, the United Nations, and NGOs; he also served as Massachusetts’ secretary of administration and finance, a position he held for just a year before being tapped to lead the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority’s Central Artery Project in Boston, commonly known as “The Big Dig.” Here, he famously restored public confidence in the nation’s largest public works project, which had been mired in controversy after massive cost overruns.
Today, the veteran of the first Gulf War is an executive professor at Texas A&M University and director of the school’s Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs. He says, “My public sector jobs taught me that there are a lot of very able career people in government who can help you govern if you trust them and treat them respectfully. They will reciprocate. I also believe that integrity is nonnegotiable and public officials of either party who ignore that principle compromise the common good and public interest.”
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Photography by UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz.