Sinem Reed

Vice President of Operations

reed@geofunders.org

As GEO’s Vice President of Operations, Sinem (she/her) is responsible for GEO’s infrastructure and oversees GEO’s people & culture, finance, accounting, information technology, facilities and compliance functions. Sinem shares responsibility for translating GEO’s mission/vision into a strategic direction and creating alignment between different functions/teams in the organization to achieve that strategic direction.

Prior to joining GEO, Sinem served as Chief of Business Planning and Analytics at the Institute of International Education (IIE), where she oversaw financial planning, budgeting, costing/pricing, grant/contract administration and US-based program financial operations. IIE is a global education nonprofit with over $600M in annual revenues and manages over 200 projects world-wide funded by Department of State, USAID, Department of Defense, higher education institutions, private sector and foundations. Prior to her decade of service at IIE, Sinem worked for World Bank, United Nations, Mercer HR Consulting and other private sector organizations. Sinem brings a data-driven mindset to insight generation and decision making and has years of experience in organizational strategy, performance, organizational design, change management and technology implementation.

Sinem is passionate about cultivating a culture of equity, inclusiveness and trust, centering team member well-being, and building resilient and high performing teams in a mission-driven environment. As an immigrant with dual citizenship who has studied, worked and lived in different countries, she is committed to learning from others, approaching challenges with curiosity and employing a growth mindset.

Sinem has a master’s degree in International Relations/Global Affairs from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree in Business and Management from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey. She is on the board of Robert College Alumni Association of America. She enjoys spending time with her family, volunteering at her kids’ schools, cultivating a strong community, traveling, being outdoors and practicing mindfulness/meditation.