Anna Zongollowicz joins Microsoft in Asia education and workforce policy role
Dr. Anna Zongollowicz has moved to Singapore as Director of Education and Workforce Policy for Asia, joining Pat Yongpradit’s team at Microsoft.
Dr. Anna Zongollowicz has joined Microsoft as Director of Education and Workforce Policy for Asia
Microsoft has appointed Dr. Anna Zongollowicz as Director of Education and Workforce Policy for Asia, adding a workforce development and skills policy specialist to its regional education team as AI reshapes learning, training and labor markets.
The role is based in Singapore and will focus on education and workforce policy across Asia, including how education systems respond to AI and prepare learners for changes in work.
The appointment places Zongollowicz in the team led by Pat Yongpradit, who joined Microsoft in January as General Manager of Global Education and Workforce Policy after leaving Code.org.
Zongollowicz moves into Asia policy role
Zongollowicz confirmed the appointment on LinkedIn, saying the role brings her back to Southeast Asia, “a region that has shaped so much of my professional life.”
She framed the Microsoft move around a career spent working across education, skills development and labor markets. “For more than 15 years, I've worked at the intersection of education, skills development and labour markets, always fascinated by the question: how do we help people thrive as the world of work changes?” she said.
At Microsoft, Zongollowicz’s remit will cover education and workforce policy across Asia as AI changes how people learn and work. She said her focus will be “on supporting policies that help education systems respond to these changes and prepare people for the opportunities they create.”
Zongollowicz also said she is joining Yongpradit’s team and expects to work with Microsoft colleagues including Andreea Calbeaza, Caroline McGrath, Jasmine Begum and Naria Santa Lucia, while building partnerships across government, academia, industry and the nonprofit sector.
Skills background supports Asia remit
Zongollowicz brings more than 15 years’ experience across workforce development, education systems, skills policy and labor markets to the Microsoft role.
Her recent work includes a Senior Skills Programme Officer role at the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization, known as ITCILO. She previously worked in Myanmar as Team Leader and Project Director at Swisscontact, where her profile says she secured a CHF 9.2 million four-year phase of a 12-year Vocational Skills Development Programme.
That program was designed to provide skills in agriculture, textiles and infrastructure maintenance to 15,000 young people in Myanmar and support 100 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Zongollowicz’s profile also says she negotiated six co-financed partnerships to deliver training, entrepreneurship and labor market insertion activities for 2,000 young people.
Her wider experience includes work with UNICEF on child labor prevention and education strategies in India and Bangladesh, and a Head of Programmes role at the Global Apprenticeship Network, where she worked on apprenticeships, work-based learning, youth employment and skills shortages.
At the Global Apprenticeship Network, she led activities under a USD 3.3 million project funded by the United States Department of Labor. The work included training more than 100 Costa Rican opportunity youth in digital workplace skills, coaching more than 300 Argentinian teachers on work-based learning, and organizing a Latin America event on the future of education and work attended by more than 1,300 participants.
