As CDP’s director of innovation and special projects, Natalie leads strategic cross-functional efforts to amplify the organization’s expertise, thought leadership and impact. In her role, she leads the development and execution of an innovation strategy, manages client-facing special projects, and facilitates learning and educational initiatives to better serve CDP’s staff and partners.
Natalie brings 15 years of experience in innovation, technology management, special projects leadership and organizational learning in the nonprofit and higher education sectors. Her journey in disaster relief began in graduate school, where she interned at UNOCHA and published research on digital humanitarian networks and communication with disaster-affected communities. From 2013-2018, Natalie worked for Internews, a leading global NGO in humanitarian information programs, and served as Internews South Sudan’s Learning Manager for more than two years.
Before CDP, Natalie led enterprise technology implementations and cross-disciplinary projects at Stanford University. During her tenure, she oversaw the Environmental Health and Safety Department’s digital transformation initiatives, developed and managed COVID testing programs that enabled over 40,000 students, faculty and staff to safely return to campus during the pandemic, and launched Stanford’s first online international travel preparation course for students.
Throughout her career, Natalie has been energized by helping organizations learn, innovate and continuously improve. She has designed multimedia learning projects for the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Solutions Journalism Network and Napa Valley Community Organizations Active in Disaster. She brings a breadth of international experience to her work at CDP, having lived and worked in Africa, Asia and Europe.
Natalie holds a master’s in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a bachelor’s degree in human biology with interdisciplinary honors in international security studies from Stanford University. She is a Certified Scrum Product Owner and ScrumMaster. She grew up in Honolulu and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Articles by Natalie Chang
