Who We Are
Avila Impact Partners is a boutique firm working at the intersection of inclusive development, resilient infrastructure, and strategic partnerships. We help companies, governments, international organizations, and development partners design and deliver programs that create lasting benefit for the communities they serve.
We bring deep experience from within Fortune 100 companies, World Bank, and the United Nations system, combined with a practical, execution-oriented mindset. Our focus is on turning goals and ambition into fundable, measurable, and durable outcomes—particularly for underserved populations.
We are intentionally small and senior. Clients work directly with experienced principals, not layers of intermediaries, and we assemble the right expertise for each engagement.
Our Name: Our name is inspired by El Ávila—the mountain that rises above Caracas and stands as a constant, grounding presence for the city below. It reflects the values at the heart of our work: resilience, perspective, and a steady commitment to the communities we serve.
Our Approach
We believe meaningful impact comes from combining technical rigor with genuine partnership. Across every engagement, we:
Tangible Outcomes. We design programs around real needs and measurable outcomes, not abstractions.
Build partnerships. We connect businesses, financing institutions, government agencies, and local actors around shared goals.
Bridge policy and delivery. We translate strategy into programs that can be financed, implemented, and sustained.
Bring a global perspective. Our experience spans the U.S., Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe, across migration, social inclusion, and infrastructure.
Leadership
Paola Guerra: Founder & Principal
Paola Guerra is a strategic partnerships leader with more than a decade of experience mobilizing multimillion-dollar funding and designing programs for vulnerable communities across Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
She has served as a Strategic Partnerships Manager with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a Strategic Partnerships & Social Impact Specialist at the World Bank, and leading community impact work at Microsoft. Her work spans migration and refugee integration, inclusive economic development, and cross-sector partnerships—including securing and managing grants and programs totaling over $100M , and advising senior UN leadership and government counterparts.
Paola holds a Master in Public Policy from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Sociology from Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas. She is passionate about turning resilience into opportunity through sustainable, inclusive strategies for the communities that need them most.
Andrew Gilligan: Senior Advisor, Energy & Infrastructure
Andrew Gilligan is a senior advisor to the firm on energy, power, and infrastructure. He brings more than 15 years of experience in project development + finance, commercial strategy, and large-scale deployment of energy systems, including leadership roles at leading energy companies Fluence and Sol Systems. He is also currently an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University.
Andrew provides targeted expertise where infrastructure, energy access, and economic development intersect—supporting the commercial structuring, financial modeling, and delivery of projects that strengthen resilience and create community benefit.
Past & Current Engagements
Previous and current engagements have included:
Worked directly for World Bank to secure and implement funding for migraion driven economic development
Advised solar developer on transition to a battery energy storage systesm (BESS) development
Spearheading a global refugree report with the Center for Global Development
Coordinating an emergency response engagement following natural disaster