Strategy and Development Consultant

With over 26 years of experience bridging urban planning, nonprofit leadership, and technology innovation, Kauser Razvi brings a unique perspective to the civic sector that transcends traditional career paths in technology. Kauser is a strategist with a talent for driving organizational and community change through innovative strategy, design, and planning. Her work centers around leveraging data and human-centered design to enhance performance and program outcomes for nonprofits, government entities, and school districts. She has worked in major US cities, counties, and school districts redesigning systems, implementing performance management tools, and changing culture through leadership development.

Currently serving as Senior Director of Performance & Innovation at College Now, Kauser leads strategic initiatives to optimize program effectiveness through data-driven approaches and process improvement. Her professional journey includes founding Strategic Urban Solutions, serving as Director of Data for Impact at DigitalC, and holding leadership positions with the O'Neill Foundation, UPD Consulting, and as Assistant Chief Information Officer for the City of Chicago.

Her expertise spans human-centered design, performance management, strategic planning, and community engagement. She has led numerous initiatives bridging technological capabilities with community needs, including the Data Maturity Project with Microsoft and the DigitalC Community Based Data Portal. She also developed the housing.health platform that helped Cleveland residents check for lead and building violations in housing stock along with a variety of internal systems for cities to use for better community planning and development. She is particularly passionate about creating inclusive technology solutions that recognize and address systemic barriers within and between governments and nonprofits that, if removed, would lead to increased engagement, deeper insight, and improved public outcomes.

In addition to her professional endeavors, Kauser founded www.LiteraryLots.org, an initiative that transforms vacant spaces into vibrant storytelling experiences, encouraging community collaboration around literacy. An alumna of the German Marshall Fund and a recipient of the German Marshall Memorial Fellowship, she actively engages in projects that promote belonging, such as a storytelling workshop for Muslims and minority groups developed during the pandemic in partnership with the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. She currently serves on the board of Literary Cleveland and supports a variety of Get out the Vote and election efforts in Ohio.

Kauser’s work is driven by her commitment to fostering collaboration and connection, aiming to implement meaningful social changes in neighborhoods and organizations through deep engagement and technology. She believes that a thriving civic democracy relies on informed, effective, and transparent government and non-profit organizations dedicated to social benefit.

She holds a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Michigan and dual Bachelor's degrees in Sociology and Journalism from Boston University. Her professional certifications include Project Management Institute Project Management certification, TetraMap facilitation, and Appreciative Inquiry.