Linda Poteat appointed Sphere Project Interim Director

Poteat is a humanitarian response specialist with 20 years of experience and is currently the Discussion Chair for the World Humanitarian Summit Global Online Consultation.

“Linda joins the Sphere Project at a fascinating time, an exciting and challenging period when Sphere is as well as strengthening its position as a thought leader in the field of humanitarian quality and accountability,” said Unni Krishnan, Chair of the Sphere Board, in welcoming Poteat.

Poteat succeeds Alistair Dutton, who ends his in the same position on 30 June. “The Board is deeply grateful to Alistair for his hard work and continued support leading the Sphere team,” Krishnan said. Beginning in August, Dutton will take over as Director of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (Caritas Scotland), the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in Scotland.

Poteat’s professional experience includes being the Director of the Emergency Capacity-Building (ECB) Project between October 2011 and December 2013. The ECB Project was a consortium of humanitarian NGOs focused on improving the speed, quality and effectiveness of disaster response.

Previously, she was Director for Disaster Response at InterAction, the largest consortium of US-based NGOs that work in relief and development. Before joining InterAction, she spent ten years in the field, working in Russia, the Balkans, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) and Sierra Leone.

Poteat is a member of the Advisory Group for the Overseas Development Institute’s Humanitarian Policy Group and was previously an adjunct professor at George Washington University.

Poteat represented InterAction’s members on the Sphere Board from 2005-2011. She participated in the first pilot of Sphere technical chapters in 1998 while based in eastern DRC. She contributed to both the 2004 and 2011 Handbook revision processes.

As Interim Director, Poteat will be based at the Sphere Project office, which is hosted by the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) in Geneva, Switzerland.