Eric Bergthold brings more than 25 years of experience managing complex, donor-funded programs across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, with a focus on governance, civil society, resilience, and institutional strengthening. Known for navigating challenging environments and driving results, Eric combines strategic thinking with practical, on-the-ground leadership. As Chief of Party for the $12 million USAID Civil Society Resilience (CSR) Activity in Cambodia, Eric led the project through a highly effective inception phase—completing four concurrent research activities, recruiting and hiring ten new staff, setting up an office and executing three major sub-awards within 90 days—before adapting quickly when funding was unexpectedly frozen. He oversaw a full demobilization within weeks, ensuring compliance and minimizing losses. Previously, at the University of Arizona, Eric established the Office of International Development at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite hiring freezes and fiscal constraints, he built a cross-campus initiative that secured over $23 million in new awards and achieved an 80% win rate on proposal submissions. His work positioned the university as a partner of choice and through leader on climate adaptation, disaster resilience, and humanitarian response. Eric has repeatedly been asked to lead course corrections and restructure underperforming programs. In Indonesia, he was tapped to turn around the USAID Mitra Kunci workforce development initiative after a major funding cut. He restructured partnerships, re-engaged government stakeholders, built private sector coalitions, and delivered programming that surpassed training and employment targets by more than 40%. His experience spans leadership roles at DAI, Pact, RTI International, and inside USAID. At Pact Cambodia, Eric served as both Country Director and Regional Grants Officer, keeping the office operational through by securing $3.8M in new business from six different donors with a win rate of over 75% on proposal submission. Over his career, he has contributed to or led bids totaling over $500 million in federal and $5 million in non-federal funding. While serving at USAID as a Senior Advisor on Democracy and Governance for East Asia, Eric led interagency efforts including a Rule of Law assessment in Burma and supported regional strategies related to civil society, accountability, and inclusive governance.

Specific Countries That I am Qualified In or Can Cover/ Global

United States

Country that I'm Located In

United States

Area of Interests (AI, Blockchain, Privacy, etc)

community development, non-profit management, corporate social responsibility, management consulting, defense contracting, international development, international relationsn