Zimo Banta Email & Phone Number

Dallas, Texas, United States

• Oversee and lead all evaluation work of grant programs and initiatives.• Develop and build a culture of learning and evaluation within the Foundation’s overall strategy, consistent with the directions set by the Board.• Develop a systematic approach to measuring the Foundation’s impact, including designing evaluation metrics and mechanisms, overseeing analysis of results, and making recommendations based on findings.• Develop and support structures for organizational learning and evidence-based decision making throughout the organization.• Serve as a thought partner to program staff to help ensure grantmaking strategies are grounded in the best available research and knowledge.• Work with the program officers to ensure that all programs are designed to deliver meaningful, quantifiable impact in accordance with the Foundation’s goals.• Design, oversee, and communicate evaluation projects to be shared with philanthropic colleagues, policy makers, and other diverse stakeholders.

Dallas/Fort Worth Area

• Managed evaluation of programs. Created evaluation plans, contributed to grant proposals and reports, wrote RFPs for external evaluation partners, and managed relationships with contractors.• Consulted with program teams to define impact measurement frameworks, research questions, indicators, and data collection tools to evaluate impact of each program.• Created innovative data analyses and visualizations that produced actionable insights that drove strategic decisions.• Built organizational capacity to be a strategic learning organization, by leading After Action Reviews, annual Data Summit, and Readiness for Organizational Learning and Evaluation survey.• Co-creator of Data Advisory Council and Data Governance Committee structures and processes. Co-chair of Data Advisory Council.

Alpharetta, Ga

• Led customer relationships, managed project timelines, and drove issue resolution to ensure timely and successful delivery.• Implemented inbound clinical and claims data feeds for health care organizations to achieve their technical and strategic goals toward improved health and financial outcomes.• Wrote custom SQL to identify data errors and perform root cause analyses of complex issues affecting data quality and implementation; worked closely with customers, healthcare application vendors, and developers to resolve issues.• Selected to lead implementation for company’s first customer to use claims data for cost and utilization analyses. Defined database infrastructure requirements to consume custom data formats in a way that supported customer business needs.• Created quality assurance processes and test plans for user acceptance and regression testing of multiple data formats. Performed weekly testing to ensure software integrity at each release.• Awarded the Philips Wellcentive Warrior Award for courage, initiative, and excellence in contributing to the solution of the hardest problems.

Atlanta, Ga

• Built evaluation capacity of grantees of CDC funding initiatives by creating reporting templates and guidance documents to collect data that can be aggregated at the national level and reported for accountability and program improvement. • Created evaluation reporting template and guidance to assist grantees in evaluation efforts of funding initiative, Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country, which was CDC’s first time collecting standard evaluation and performance measures from tribes and tribal organizations. Modified guidance to elicit standardized data while accommodating diverse cultural contexts. • Produced evaluation reporting template for grantees of the State Public Health Actions funding opportunity, ensuring data collection in formats more usable to CDC and aligning state data collection to national evaluation questions.• Developed performance measure profiles defining indicator terms, data sources, and calculations to ensure clear and standardized evaluation reporting for state grantees of the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Prevention funding opportunity.

Tamale, Ghana

• Designed and executed quantitative and qualitative impact and process evaluations of gender empowerment component of CARE’s West Africa Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Program.• Identified and defined program goals and outcomes; redesigned research instruments to align with said goals. Refined instruments through pretesting and piloting.• Led and trained team of 5 research assistants. Oversaw sampling, data collection, and quality control for 275 household surveys, 15 water committee surveys, and 16 focus groups.• Designed data entry tool using Qualtrics. Managed data cleaning and transcription.• Analyzed data using SAS and MAXQDA. Wrote final report to inform future programming.

Atlanta, Ga

• Researched and wrote issue brief on prevalence and impacts of gender-based violence (GBV) on sexual, reproductive, and maternal health, which guided internal strategy meetings.• Wrote in-depth case study on eliminating female genital mutilation/cutting practices in Ethiopia, used for CARE staff training on human rights in development, particularly how to advance international human rights while respecting community norms and practices. • Provided research for and participated in convening of GBV experts and international development agencies to create GBV monitoring and mitigation guidance for non-GBV sectoral programs.

• Directed job readiness program. Spearheaded first ever evaluation of program: defined program goals, designed survey instruments, and created and maintained database.• Assisted survivors of intimate partner violence to achieve safety and independence through employment, life skills, and access to community resources.• Facilitated bi-weekly educational groups on topics including nutrition, self-esteem, credit repair, time management, and English for speakers of other languages.• Presented on violence prevention to students and parents in Dallas public schools.

• Created and conducted surveys to assess needs and knowledge of the community and health brigade network; delivered educational activities in response to survey results.• Authored and obtained Volunteer Activities, Support and Training (VAST) Program grant funded through U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to conduct HIV/AIDS workshop for municipality's entire health brigade network of 125 volunteer health workers and create educational murals for health clinics. • Trained 33 youth health promoters who educated peers about sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV/AIDS, self-esteem, and communication skills in nine rural communities. • Designed and delivered diversity training to incoming Peace Corps volunteers in elected role of Co-Chair of Peace Corps Nicaragua’s Diversity Committee.

• Performed biochemical laboratory experiments in nuclear receptor expression and anti-cancer drug research. • Analyzed laboratory data for correlation with data from the National Cancer Institute; presented results to research team.

B.A., History Of Science, History Of Medicine

Activities and Societies: Community Health Educators, Yale AIDS Watch, Instrumental Connection, Phoenix Dance Troupe, Habitat for Humanity

Master Of Public Health (Mph), Global Epidemiology

Activities and Societies: Robert W. Woodruff Fellow, highest scholarship awarded for academic excellence, leadership, and service.

Education record