Katya Fink

Katya is a Senior Policy Analyst at the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center and a PhD candidate in Public Policy. Her research focuses on evidence-based policymaking, regulatory evaluation, retrospective review, and the use of AI to strengthen evaluation, evidence-building, and public-sector decision-making.

Prior to joining the Center, Katya spent 10 years designing and implementing evaluations, assessments, and organizational learning initiatives for U.S. government agencies, foundations, and international organizations. Her work has supported clients including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the World Bank, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She has contributed to mixed-methods evaluations across sectors including governance, workforce development, education, public health, economic growth, and natural resource management, applying qualitative and quantitative methods to assess program effectiveness, implementation, and policy outcomes.

At the Center, Katya examines how agencies can strengthen regulatory analysis, retrospective review, and evidence-building practices to improve policy effectiveness and accountability. Her current work explores the intersection of program evaluation and regulatory governance, including how evaluation methods, data analytics, and emerging AI tools can support regulatory learning, performance assessment, and continuous improvement across public-sector institutions. She is also interested in international regulatory cooperation and comparative approaches to governance, with a particular focus on how different institutional frameworks shape regulatory outcomes and the diffusion of best practices across jurisdictions.