Jay Knott is president of the Metropolitan Group where he leads strategic communication, organizational strategy, innovation and intercultural engagement. Previously, he was the senior executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) where he oversaw the global enterprise, including human resources, finance, legal, corporate counsel, corporate services and risk management, global operations and IT.
Prior to EDF, Mr. Knott was the executive vice president and chief business officer at Abt Associates, a policy, research, and international development firm. Under his leadership, Abt expanded globally beyond the U.S. and became an industry leader in Australia and the U.K.
Mr. Knott also worked at USAID where he served in South America, Africa and the Middle East. As the USAID Mission Director in Mozambique, a country that had fewer than 800 doctors for a population of over 18 million, Jay led the entire U.S. government effort to respond to the AIDS crisis, winning awards for the program integration and esprit de corps across U.S. government agencies in country. As the USAID Mission Director in Jordan, one of the most water-scarce countries in the world, Jay oversaw programs and infrastructure construction in water and wastewater treatment that provided potable water to much of the population.
In addition to serving on the R4D Board of Directors, Mr. Knott also serves on the Board of Directors of the Society for International Development, Washington chapter (SID-W).
Mr. Knott holds a BA from Yale University and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Tine, live in Washington, D.C. Mr. Knott speaks French, Spanish and Portuguese.
