Maura Leary

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT MAURA LEARY

I founded MKL Strategic Communications to do one thing well: help organizations that are trying to make a positive difference in the world communicate with the clarity, confidence, and influence they deserve.MKL is a boutique advisory firm working at the intersection of strategy and storytelling — helping international development organizations, global philanthropies, and African-led institutions clarify their voice, build their influence, and engage the audiences that matter most. That includes translating complex evidence and technical ideas into compelling narratives that change how decisionmakers decide, and how people think and act.Before founding MKL, I served as Director of Communications and Advocacy at the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), where I built and led a renewed communications and advocacy function, served on the Executive Leadership Team, and drove global engagement on Africa\'s most pressing priorities — from climate finance and debt relief to green industrialization and gender equality. I continue to serve as a Senior Fellow at ACET.Prior to ACET, I spent a decade at the World Bank Group in progressively senior roles — including Communications Advisor to the CEO and Acting Manager for the Africa Region, where I led a team of more than 50 communications professionals across Washington and Sub-Saharan Africa and drove the institution\'s economic thought leadership strategy in the Africa Region. Earlier roles spanned poverty and equity, gender and development, and multilateral partnerships to influence action and drive progress for the world\'s most vulnerable communities. Washington, DC | mklcomms.com