Pivot to Independent Consulting

On December 12, 2025, Janet Whitelaw-Jones (Founder, Turas Partners), Ben Feit (Founder, ReThink Associates and President & CEO, Pope Solutions), Kristen Schubert (Causal Design & Kristen Schubert LLC), and Dr. Jaymee Lewis-Flenaugh (ElevateCore Consulting LLC) described  their personal journeys into consulting. Olivia Nguyễn moderated this conversation, and Steve Radelet provided additional commentary.

This session was the tenth in our Pivot to New Career Paths seminar series, designed to offer attendees the opportunity to hear from colleagues who have already made these important career transitions and glean how to best embark on these changes themselves.

Over the past year, many public servants and development professionals have had to navigate a new landscape, reimagining what service can look like and where they can work. Many have pivoted to new careers in independent consulting successfully to scratch this itch.

Independent consulting is a growing, compelling answer for seasoned professionals. It offers the simultaneous advantages of flexibility, autonomy, and sustainability so you can keep serving from where you are with the profound skillset and resourcefulness you’ve built throughout your career.

According to Ben Feit, the international development landscape has “totally changed in ways that no one could have predicted.” USAID no longer operated as before, implementing partners had to pivot toward a new business model, and various firms (both for- and nonprofit) have rushed to fill in these blank spaces.

Yet with these tremendous changes comes new opportunities. Here, many independent consulting firms of various interest areas have forged new paths for international development. Though the former models of business have changed, your skills have not! More important, there is plenty of room for you to lend your skills and expertise in this new, rapidly shifting environment.

As with our other “We’ve Pivoted!” sessions, our featured guest speakers offered their insights, lessons learned, and practical guidance on how and where to begin your own pivot into independent consulting. 

If you have wondered how you can continue to contribute to important causes in a meaningful way in today’s job climate, then independent consulting may be right for you!

Other Previous Sessions

Please feel free to browse our other previous sessions to access summaries, video content, and more information about our other events!