Robert Rosenbaum is a Co-Founder of Project Resource Optimization (PRO), an initiative established to channel philanthropic funding toward the most urgent, life-saving programs that were terminated during the dismantling of USAID. Since early 2025, PRO has helped match over $110 million in new philanthropic commitments to roughly 80 projects, and has built a platform to appraise and promote projects delivering highly cost-effective models to save lives and reduce suffering at scale.
Rob’s career in public service has included positions within government, at research institutions and within social enterprises. At USAID, he served as a Senior Advisor on the COVID Response Team and, more recently, led application review and an agency-wide scaling effort of evidence-backed public health interventions at Development Innovation Ventures (USAID/DIV). Earlier in his career, he helped lead NGOs (Children of South Africa and OpenBiome), and manage large field research (Harvard’s Center for International Development, and Resolve to Save Lives). His expertise and research interests lie at the intersection of innovation, impact evaluation and scale. He holds an MPA from Princeton University.
