For more than 25 years, Nitin Madhav has worked at the intersection of global development, foreign policy, and human development — leading U.S. foreign assistance programs in some of the world's most fragile and politically sensitive environments, from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Central Asia, Burma, and China. He directed one of USAID's largest bilateral portfolios, represented the agency at National Security Council meetings, and oversaw billion-dollar programs that impacted national security. Today, he serves as Executive Vice President of the American University of Afghanistan, helping lead the institution through one of the most consequential transitions in its history.

That work has taken him into some of the most fragile and dangerous places in the world, and it shaped a second body of work: as a fine-art wildlife photographer (Nitin Madhav Photography), he creates large-scale black-and-white images of the world's largest mammals, with profits from print sales going directly to conservation and humanitarian causes. He is also writing his first novel, drawn from three decades inside diplomacy, aid, and crisis response.

Madhav speaks several South Asian languages and is equally at home in a policy room with senior officials or in the field with the communities served. He is always eager to connect with anyone working in foreign assistance policy, higher education in fragile states, conservation storytelling, or simply curious about the stories — human and wild — worth protecting.