Adri Lacerda works across the entirety of the Arsht-Rock team and its workstreams, leading strategy, financial management, budgeting, and reporting, and overall operations.  She also mentors and coaches junior staff, preparing the new generation of leaders for the workplace, and advises the team on best management practices.   

With three decades of work experience, Adri has managed finances, operations, and compliance for complex, multi-million-dollar projects focused on international development. Her work benefited organizations with missions associated with the environment and climate change, higher education, and global health, such as the World Resources Institute, the American Council of Education (ACE), and the Demographic and Health Surveys program at ICF International. With a profound passion for people management and process improvement, she developed expertise in establishing systems and processes that expedite workflows, improve compliance, and maximize the use of available resources.  

Adri is also the former director of People & Finance for the Maryland/DC chapter of The Nature Conservancy, where she led the implementation of several financial improvement projects, conducted staff training on topics that ranged from performance metrics to financial management, and led the execution of multiple new systems for the operations department. Through these activities, operational costs and turnaround times were significantly reduced and audit findings were eliminated. She also led the chapter’s work on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ), chairing a committee that designed a training curriculum focused on raising awareness, shared language, and knowledge necessary to understand concepts required to the development of effective DEIJ strategies. 

Originally from Brazil, where she trained as a lawyer at Universidade de Passo Fundo, Lacerda also earned an MBA and an MS in Management from University of Maryland Global Campus. She also holds certificates in Grants Management and Procurement and Contracts Management.