Angela Maria Rodrigues Lopes da Cruz is Chief of Party of the USAID Timor-Leste NGO Advocacy for Good Governance Activity. Cruz is a development expert and project manager with 18 years of experience supporting implementation of donor-funded programming in Timor-Leste, including overseeing USAID and the World Bank funded projects across sectors (agriculture, agroforestry, livestock, environment, education, health, youth and women empowerment, and civil society strengthening). Through fulfilling numerous management and advisory roles, she has built and refined experience in NGO strengthening, capacity building, advocacy, and relationship building with government counterparts, NGOs, donors, international organizations, academia, and the private sector, in addition to a knowledge of USAID programming and related compliance requirements. She holds a master’s degree in Horticulture and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Sciences, both awarded by the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia, and a bachelor’s degree in Agronomy from the University of East Timor. She speaks Fataluku, Tetum, Bahasa Indonesia, and English.