Management Team

Armen Chobanyan has over 30 years of experience in international development, having held senior positions with the United Nations, the private sector, and NGOs across Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. Prior to joining the Izmirlian Foundation in 2019, he served as Head of Programme for the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region, based in Geneva, Switzerland, where he oversaw the implementation of an annual project portfolio of approximately US$500 million.

He has also served as Representative and Head of UNOPS offices in Kosovo, Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia, Tajikistan, Georgia, and Ukraine. Throughout his career, Armen has gained extensive experience in designing and implementing national strategies, policies, programs, and large-scale development projects across more than 30 countries. His areas of expertise include socio-economic development, public administration, governance, healthcare, education, agriculture, tourism infrastructure, environmental protection, and the rule of law.

Armen holds a university degree and a postgraduate certificate in Economics (1995), a Master’s degree in Management (1996), and a Doctorate (DBA) in Public Policy and Management (2004). He is the author or co-author of several research reports and professional articles on development, management, and economics.

He is married and has four children—two daughters and two sons.

Babken Joined the Izmirlian Foundation with highly significant experience in the field of development both locally and internationally. For more than 16 years he has been working with the UNDP office in Armenia heading various projects aimed at community development, infrastructure rehabilitation, economic (SME) development, agricultural / value chain development, etc. He holds Doctor of Engineering degree from the Yerevan State Institute of Architecture and construction, and Master of Earthquake Engineering degree from the American University of Armenia.

Lilit Saryan has significant experience in the field of development. She specializes in Monitoring and Evaluation of socio-economic, agricultural, community and sustainable development projects in Armenia and internationally. With her work, she contributes to the assessment of the sustainability and effectiveness of IF projects, develops a transparent results- based monitoring system with defined indicators to improve implementation modalities to achieve greater impact in terms of socio-economic improvement. She holds Master’s in Political Science and International Affairs Degree from the American University of Armenia and a BSc degree from the Yerevan State Linguistic University after V.Brusov.

Seda Melkumyan has more than 10 years of experience in public administration, legal reform, and institutional development. She specializes in programme development and management, stakeholder coordination, and policy-oriented research and analysis. Through her work, she contributes to the design and implementation of projects.

Prior to joining the Izmirlian Foundation, she held senior positions in Armenia’s public sector. She has also collaborated with international organizations such as the World Bank and GIZ. She holds a Master’s degree in Law from Yerevan State University.