Olivia Nielsen

Olivia Nielsen was born and raised in Paris by American parents and found her way into the housing sector somewhat unexpectedly—while working for CEMEX, a global cement company, during the Haiti earthquake response. What began as a crash course in post-disaster reconstruction turned into five years living in Haiti and the Caribbean, developing housing projects across Latin America.

After years focused on construction, Olivia decided that pouring cement was the easy part—and turned her attention to the harder challenges: land, policy, and housing finance. As a consultant for the World Bank, she has supported housing policy reforms in over 50 countries, from Papua New Guinea to the Central African Republic, helping governments design systems that make safe, affordable housing possible.

She is now a Principal at Miyamoto International, a global engineering firm specializing in resilience, where she leads the firm’s affordable housing policy practice. Olivia lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with her family and animals, and travels frequently to support the development of housing systems that work for all.