Nikki Bagwell is Chief Financial Officer at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), where she leads the organization’s financial strategy, stewardship, and modernization of financial infrastructure. She partners with executive leadership on strategic planning and fiscal governance, providing financial insight that supports NED’s mission and strengthens the organization’s long-term fiscal resilience. In this role, she oversees efforts to enhance transparency, agility, and the safe, effective delivery of resources to democracy advocates around the world.

Nikki brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in nonprofit and institutional finance. Her background spans public accounting, outsourced finance, financial operations, audit, and compliance, with expertise in building scalable financial systems that support organizational growth and accountability.

Before joining NED, Nikki served as Assistant Vice President and Controller at The Brookings Institution, where she oversaw financial operations, led enterprise financial system implementations, and aligned financial capacity with the institution’s long-term strategic priorities. Earlier in her career, she managed audits, compliance reviews, and outsourced accounting engagements for nonprofit and private-sector clients, developing deep expertise in audit methodology, federal compliance, and financial modernization.

Nikki serves as Treasurer and Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee for Mines Advisory Group USA. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from Towson University and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed in Virginia.