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Maryanna Abdo      

Social Innovator; Founding Member & Senior Manager at L.E.K. Consulting’s Global Education Practice

Mary Abdo is a Senior Manager at L.E.K. Consulting’s Global Education Practice. Abdo leads Global Education Practice work with public and social impact sector clients including governments, public and non-profit universities, impact investors and foundations. She also leads Global Education Practice thought leadership initiatives. Abdo has worked directly on-ground with key advisors to senior public administrators who lead education policy, on matters relating to K-12 education reform, sustainability improvement in Higher Education, the establishment of an education-focused foundation, and more.

Abdo brings particular expertise in education innovation. She recently led a major study with IFC-World Bank on digital skilling, led L.E.K.’s support to Macquarie Group Foundation on its 50th Anniversary Awards, and for the 7th year recently led support to the WISE Awards in education innovation. Mary has worked in the social impact sector across 20+ countries.

Abdo holds a Masters of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, which she attended as a Pforzheimer Fellow, and a Masters from the College of Europe, which she attended as a Fulbright Fellow. She has a Bachelors degree summa cum laude from the University of Southern California. She has previously worked at EY-Parthenon where she held the position of Vice President at the Education Centre of Excellence.

Speech Topics


Scaling sustainable education models

Most developing countries in Asia have increased access to universal education for children, however the learning outcomes have yet not substantially improved. Often education systems are poorly aligned with educational goals. Scaling up such education systems requires a clear roadmap of learning objectives and responsibilities, information and matrices, finance, and incentives. Funders, investors, and stakeholders need to assess the learnings about ‘learning’ and what works and what doesn’t, before investing hugely on scaling up education models.

This session will discuss the fundamentals of successful education systems and what factors to evaluate before investing in scaling up education models to ensure effectiveness and sustainability.

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