Sarah Donahue
Director of Operations @Harvard\'s Belfer Center
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WORK HISTORY
Director of Operations @Harvard\'s Belfer Center
Senior operational leader overseeing day-to-day operations for a 400-person research organization, supporting 12+ research teams, 10+ fellowship programs, 60+ staff, and 250 fellows.Drive organizational effectiveness through operational strategy, governance, and cross-functional alignment across academic, research, and administrative stakeholders.Designed and launched a centralized fellowship application and intake system, improving process efficiency, data integrity, and candidate experience across multiple research centers.Lead talent operations including workforce planning, hiring, onboarding, performance management, and team development, ensuring scalable people systems and accountability.Manage complex stakeholder environments, balancing competing priorities and accelerating executive decision-making in fast-paced, mission-driven settings.Translate strategy into execution by mapping operational workflows, clarifying roles and decision rights, and implementing process improvements at scale.Oversee end-to-end event and convening operations, including speaker engagement, logistics, and post-event evaluation, supporting institutional visibility and research impact.Lead and mentor an operations team while providing indirect operational leadership to 60+ staff through policies, procedures, and change management initiatives.Partner with senior leadership to strengthen transparency, communication, and operational rigor across a matrixed organization.
EDUCATION
Boston College
MA, Higher Education Administration
Stonehill College
Bachelor of Arts, Political Science and Government
Boston College Lynch School
Master of Arts, Higher Education/Higher Education Administration
SKILLS
ABOUT SARAH DONAHUE
Mission-driven Director of Operations with 15+ years of experience leading organizational design, talent operations, and technology-enabled process improvement at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. Proven track record of building and managing high-performing teams, driving cross-functional alignment, and executing complex, high-impact initiatives in matrixed organizations. Expert at translating strategy into scalable operations, strengthening organizational effectiveness, and delivering measurable results in fast-paced, mission-driven environments. Seeking senior operations, head of operations, or chief of staff roles within innovation-focused or mission-driven organizations.
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