Kim Brooks Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives

Kim Brooks joined JHU in July 2025 as senior director of strategic initiatives in the Office of Finance and Administration. In that role, Kim leads, manages, and executes critical projects for the F&A division and the broader university. This includes managing project teams comprising staff from across the university as well as external consultants and contractors, ensuring that all projects meet institutional goals, deliver impactful results, and drive excellence.

With a balanced background that has toggled between the private and social sectors, Kim spent 15 years working for a consumer goods company, where she established the first strategic initiatives capability at corporate headquarters, then scaled that capability in several business units. She has regularly worked with leadership teams and boards to develop new strategies and drive implementation across an enterprise. Initiatives she’s spearheaded include expanding and digitizing a shared service center, establishing an enterprise approach to rising consumer demand for healthy products, and returning a business unit in decline to profitability.

Previously, Kim also worked as a manager for McKinsey & Company, where she was part of the team that evolved their nonprofit work into a global offering now known as McKinsey.org. She also served as chief of staff for the International Center for Research on Women, managing corporate partnerships for companies interested in advancing the livelihoods of women and girls in developing countries. Earlier, Kim founded a research effort for the Pew Charitable Trusts that looked at the regulatory framework guiding development of genetically modified foods.

Kim holds a master’s degree from the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown and a bachelor’s in sociology from Barnard College. She loves puzzles with at least 700 pieces and is addicted to creating quotes for New Yorker magazine cartoons.