OUR EXPERT NETWORK
Humanitarian Practitioners
Imara-IHG’s Humanitarian Practitioners bring deep, field-based experience from crisis-affected environments—helping organizations understand how systems operate under extreme pressure, scarce resources, and urgent human need.
Field-based operational experience
Crisis coordination & response
Local systems & community dynamics
Ethical, practical implementation

Imara-IHG’s Humanitarian Practitioners bring deep, field-based experience from working directly in crisis-affected environments. They understand how systems perform under extreme pressure—where resources are scarce, timelines are compressed, and decisions have immediate human consequences.

What makes this group unique is their operational realism. They have coordinated responses across NGOs, UN agencies, governments, and communities, and they understand the informal dynamics—trust, power, culture, and local knowledge—that often determine whether interventions succeed or fail.

By grounding resilience strategies in lived experience, our Humanitarian Practitioners help clients design approaches that are not only technically sound, but also ethical, inclusive, and workable in the most complex and vulnerable contexts.

Chief Consultants

Experts with a terminal degree and 25+ years of professional experience (or 30+ years of growing executive experience)

Volker Hüls, M.A.

Optimizing crisis preparedness and response. Head of Results and Learning, Danish Refugee Council

Kevin King, MBA

Executive Director, Mennonite Disaster Service

Frederick Spielberg, MPP

Humanitarian Action Consultant. Former Emergency Preparedness Advisor (UNICEF)

Andrew Cunningham, Ph.D.

Independent Humanitarian Analyst and Researcher and a PhD in War Studies from King’s College London.

Senior Consultants

Experts with a graduate degree (masters or equivalent) and 20+ years of professional experience

Purvi Patel, J.D.

Attorney and international humanitarian crisis responder. Former career staff with USAID and UNHCR. Adjunct faculty, Wheaton College (IL).

Matthew Ellingson, M.A.

Experienced International Humanitarian Leader in complex contexts. Principle Advisor for Humanitarian Affairs for Compassion International

Nina Goričar, M.A.

Independent consultant driven by our common humanity and desire to co-create a better world. Former War Child manager

Associate Consultants

Experts with a graduate degree and 10+ years of professional experience

Zack Adinoff, M.S.

Preparing Our Communities through Cross-Sector Collaboration and Resilience from the Ground Up

Hector Rivera Echevarria, M.A.

Supporting Disaster Response and Resilience Worldwide. Former USAID, Peace Corps, American Red Cross, CORE.

Junior Consultants

Experts with a graduate degree (completed or in progress) and 2+ years of professional experience