Prior to joining IPA, Savanna worked as program manager for the food and nutrition security portfolio at Humanitas Global Development, an international development organization based in Washington, D.C., where she managed programs with UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), HarvestPlus, USAID, Food Tank, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She holds an MA in Sustainability Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a BA in Integrative Studies from George Mason University.