ASU’s Fron Nahzi named to VEGA board

As part of its continued development of strong global partnerships that will generate impactful sustainability-based projects in developing nations, ASU’s Fron Nahzi was elected to the board of directors for Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA).

Nahzi is the global business development director for the Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives at ASU. Through its Global Sustainability Solutions Services, the Walton Initiatives have developed 80 projects across five continents since 2012.

VEGA, founded in 2004 through USAID, works with its 25 NGO members to implement projects that focus on economic governance, capacity building and local governance strengthening.

"VEGA welcomes Fron's participation on the board of directors and looks forward to increasingly closer ties with the ASU community in promoting innovation and technology transfer to help fill the 'talent gap' in frontier and emerging markets,” said Michael Deal, president and CEO of VEGA. “ASU and the Walton Initiatives add invaluable expertise to our network that helps drive economic growth necessary to meet global challenges."

In 2015, ASU and the Walton Initiatives became the first university to become a regular member of VEGA. This year, the Walton Initiatives partnered with the VEGA member Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture and others to successfully bid for a $23 million agribusiness project in Egypt that will increase incomes of smallholder farmers through sustainably intensifying their agricultural productivity, increasing the efficiency of post-harvest processes, improving the marketing of these goods and improving the nutritional status of women and children.

Since its inception, VEGA has undertaken 35 programs funded for more than $300 million. VEGA’s members have more than five decades of experience in 140 countries implementing integrated programs that range from economic growth to food security, environment, energy, health, education and more.