Gwendolyn Appel serves as the Vice President of Programs, overseeing the delivery of all portfolio projects. Appel joined Counterpart in August 2020 to establish the project support unit with the goal of delivering timely and effective services to the programs team. She also served as the vice president of operations. Appel has more than 20 years of experience in business operations, administration, and management of donor-funded grants and projects. Her technical expertise spans health, environment, democracy and governance, stabilization, and economic growth portfolios. Appel has spent significant time opening overseas offices and supporting staff and grantees in operations, financial, and grants management.

Prior to joining Counterpart, Appel was an independent consultant for 8 years, providing technical and operations assistance to variety of clients working in the international development arena and undertaking short term assignments throughout West, East, and Southern Africa, as well as in South East Asia. Previously, Appel was the Director of Project Management at DAI heading up the business unit that provided operational and administrative project support company-wide. Before joining DAI, she worked in the Economic Growth and Democracy and Governance group at Abt Associates and the Environment and Natural Resources Group at International Resources Group (now a part of RTI).