GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT INCUBATOR - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Accounts Payable Specialist - GDI Americas
- Americas / Accounts Payable Specialist - GDI Americas
Adrian Tabares works in the Finance and Operations team as the Accounts Payable Specialist for GDI Americas. Adrian has more than 10 years of experience working in Accounts Payable for small and large corporations. Adrian is passionate about building and maintaining great relationships with suppliers. Adrian received his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) focused on finance from Nova Southeastern University in 2020 and his Bachelors in Accounting from Florida National University in 2018.
Adrian is also passionate about helping the community and completed an internship with the VITA program at the IRS, helping low-income families prepare their tax returns. Adrian loves to travel around the world and spend time with his family and his 3 Yorkies.
Job Titles:
- Africa / CEO - GDI Africa
- CEO - GDI Africa
- Managing Director of GDI Americas
Alice is a Managing Director of GDI Americas and the CEO of GDI Africa, where she works with large corporations, commercial investors and INGOs to integrate social impact, innovation and social entrepreneurship efforts into their portfolios, and helps philanthropists and social enterprises more effectively create systems-level change. Prior to joining GDI, Alice worked at Bridgespan, Bain & Co, the World Bank and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. She is the co-founder and executive director of The Muskoka Foundation, as well as the co-founder and chief strategy officer of AppMkr. Alice earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and has a double major BA in International Economics and East Asian Studies from Columbia University and Stanford Japan Center. Alice enjoys spending time at her cabin in Canada with her family - and lots of uninvited black flies.
Job Titles:
- Americas / Manager - GDI Americas
- Manager - GDI Americas
Alizah is passionate about finding sustainable solutions to the world's most complex problems. She is able to fuel this passion as a Manager within GDI Americas' Strategy and Build team, where she supports the design, build and launch of GDI's social impact initiatives across various geographies and portfolios. Alizah joined GDI from a career in Management Consulting at Kearney, where she advised and collaborated with executives across North America and Europe within the health and retail industries. Her expertise was focused on developing and launching business transformation initiatives, as well as crafting consumer and patient strategies grounded in behavioral economics.
Prior to consulting, she worked and lived in Panama and Kenya as a Strategy & Operations Advisor, where she led the planning and development of health clinic infrastructure projects, and supported the operationalization of best practices across hospital networks. She also managed the Marketing teams of various Kenya-based start-ups, where she developed content in collaboration with Facebook's Free Basics, local health ministries and community groups.
Alizah graduated from the Ivey School of Business at Western University with a dual degree in Business Administration and Health Sciences. Outside of work she enjoys outdoor activities (biking, hiking and skiing are the top 3!), exploring local cafes, and is an amateur R&B record collector / food enthusiast.
Job Titles:
- Africa / CFO - GDI Africa
- CFO - GDI Africa
Andrew serves as Chief Finance Officer (CFO) for GDI Africa. He is a finance and project management professional with several years of experience managing large, complex, multi-stakeholder grant programs with combined value of over $200 million, ensuring prudent investments in agriculture, health, and education. He has worked cross-culturally in Kenya, Mozambique, Jordan, Liberia.
Andrew's recent roles include serving as global director for compliance and operations at Tanager, and team leader for AgResults, a private sector-driven pay-for-results project which helped improve grain storage capacity for smallholder farmers in Kenya. Andrew served as the technical grants manager for a USAID Kenya Horticulture Competitiveness Project implemented by Fintrac and was a grants management specialist with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Kenya. He previously managed country finance and operations with various international development organizations, in addition to stints in the private sector as chief accountant.
Andrew holds MBA from Edinburgh Business School (Heriot-Watt Univ, UK), and is a certified public accountant & member of ICPAK. Andrew resides in Nairobi with his wife and their five year old boy. He loves farming, traveling and playing Scrabble.
Job Titles:
- Americas / Founder & CEO - GDI Americas
- Founder & CEO - GDI Americas
Andrew is the Founder and CEO of GDI Americas, and also serves as the global coordinator across GDI global partners, an ex-officio member of the GDI Americas Board, and a member and the Chair of the GDI Solutions fiscal sponsor entity Board. He shapes new opportunities for GDI to drive the global development sector forward and provides strategic guidance to select incubated initiatives. Andrew has played many roles within GDI initiatives, including Interim CEO of Convergence and of Emerging Public Leaders. He currently serves on the Boards of Aceli Africa, citiesRISE, and the Refugee Investment Network, as well as the Advisory Board of Upstart Co-Lab.
Prior to founding GDI, Andrew was the Global Operating Partner at Dalberg Global Advisors. During that time, he helped design and launch ANDE and served as the founding co-chairperson of mothers2mothers. Andrew holds a joint MBA/MPP from Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School and a BA in Economics from Princeton University. When he isn't urging nonprofits toward their ‘endgames,' Andrew can be found gardening, kayaking and chasing his young daughter around.
Job Titles:
- Africa / Associate Director, Operations and Programs - GDI Africa
- Associate Director, Operations and Programs for GDI Africa
Ann Murage is an Associate Director, Operations and Programs for GDI Africa. Ann has a background in project management, with a focus on international development. She was involved in setting up GDI in Africa where her current responsibilities involve the institutionalization of policies & procedures, development and operationalization of the talent strategy, financial management and stakeholder engagement.
Prior to joining GDI, Ann worked as a Project Manager at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. She was responsible for partner engagements, research implementation, and coordination of key projects in Sub-Sahara Africa. Earlier in her career, she was instrumental in supporting regional finance project teams in setting up systems including providing onsite support to project offices in DR Congo, Sudan and Southern Sudan.
Ann holds an MBA from the University of Liverpool, she is a Certified Public Account and has qualifications in Microfinance, SME Finance. She is passionate about the promotion of improved livelihoods and uplifting of the less advantaged in society.
Job Titles:
- Manager
- Manager - GDI South Asia
- South Asia / Manager - GDI South Asia
As a Manager at GDI, Annu leads projects and supports initiatives in GDI's jobs and livelihoods portfolio such as the Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN), where her work includes leading and scaling GOYN's work across India, as well as leading and developing several thematic areas of work such as entrepreneurship and localisation across the global network.
Prior to joining GDI Annu founded Profit with Purpose, where she worked with several global corporations and nonprofits to develop and deliver social impact programs with a focus on dignified and resilient livelihoods.
Before starting her consulting practice, Annu established the India operations for the Foundation of the global CRM leader salesforce.com. Here she took the globally successful Salesforce Foundation model and adapted it to establish locally relevant community development programs.
Prior to that, Annu was a part of the Suzlon Foundation where she worked with displaced and disadvantaged communities around the company's windfarms to address complex, localised socio-economic issues.
Annu has worked across 12 states in India and several countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas. She finds her sense of purpose in doing work that enables traditionally marginalised populations to rediscover their agency and power ultimately resulting in a more inclusive, equitable, and just society. Outside of work, Annu loves to read, swim, do yoga, and cook.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer - Leapfrog to Value
- South Asia / Chief Operating Officer - Leapfrog to Value
Balkrishna believes that compassionate design, delivery, and culture can go a long way in creating healthier and sustainable communities. At GDI South Asia, he works with the Leapfrog to Value(L2V) initiative to design and implement value-based care projects in low- and middle-income countries such as India, South Africa, Ghana, and Uganda in both public and private settings; in TB, HIV, Maternity, NCDs, and primary care. He also led the development of Leapfrog to Value's "Playbook for designing human-centered health systems" that lays out the process of collaboratively arriving at a pragmatic VBC program.
Before L2V, he worked at Roche Pharma India, leading their value-based healthcare effort. He has also been a management consultant for the life-sciences industry and developed pricing, market access, and country entry strategies for global organizations.
He is a physician and has an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. Outside work, you could find him running, painting, practicing hypnotherapy, and reading tarot cards.
Job Titles:
- Americas / Manager, Strategy & Build - GDI Americas
- Manager, Strategy & Build - GDI Americas
Ben is a Manager for GDI Americas' Strategy and Build Team and has over a decade of experience working in global development, technology, and entrepreneurship. Since starting his career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, Ben has had the opportunity to collaborate with dozens of NGOs and social enterprises in both the US and East Africa. He has worked as a strategic and technical adviser to Field Ready, Villgro Africa, FEMA, and Penn State's Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship program. He is also the cofounder of the tech start-up Kijenzi, which develops local solutions to critical supply gaps experienced in lower- and middle-income communities.
An engineer by training and an entrepreneur by experience, Ben is passionate about problem solving and believes in the importance of getting to the root of a problem. As a researcher, he has focused on understanding on how innovative solutions are best able to fit in with real-world contexts and human-driven needs. He has passionately worked on these types of challenges in global development while pursuing his PhD (Penn State), Masters (Michigan Tech), and Bachelors (Ohio State) degrees in engineering and design.
Outside of work, Ben enjoys all types (and seasons) of outdoor activities, but as a native Michigander, he is especially fond of those outdoor activities that bring him back to the Great Lakes.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Africa / Board Chair - GDI Africa
- Board Chair - GDI Africa
Bilha Ndirangu is the Board Chairperson of GDI Africa and the current and first non-founder CEO of African Leadership Academy (ALA). She is driven to build great organizations that will shape Africa's future in her lifetime. Prior to joining African Leadership Academy, Bilha was the CEO of Africa's Talking, based in Nairobi, Kenya. Africa's Talking enables the continent's technology ecosystem by empowering software developers. Over seven years, Bilha expanded Africa's Talking into 20 markets, with offices in 14 African countries, and significant revenue growth. Throughout her time at Africa's Talking, Bilha gained a reputation as an extraordinary operator and team builder. She has been recognized as an Endeavor Entrepreneur.
Bilha previously worked at Dalberg, where she was the first employee of the consulting firm's Nairobi office. At Dalberg, she advised governments, corporations, and foundations across the continent on solutions to African challenges. She particularly thrived in education projects, including the design and delivery of Wings to Fly, Kenya's leading secondary school scholarship program, with Equity Group and the Mastercard Foundation.
To date, Wings to Fly has enabled over 26,000 promising youth in Kenya to access high-quality secondary education. Bilha holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before returning to Africa, she worked with the Mitchell Madison Group in New York City.
Job Titles:
- Communications Associate Director - GDI Americas
Job Titles:
- Americas / Board Member - GDI Americas
- Board Member - GDI Americas
- Partner and Board Member of Bridges Fund Management
Brian Trelstad is a Partner and Board Member of Bridges Fund Management, an investment fund that has raised and invested $1B in impact and sustainable investments. He is currently investing out of the U.S. Sustainable Growth Fund, and a director of ABIC, an impact-focused special purpose acquisition corporation formed in partnership with private-equity firm AEA. He is also a co-chair of the Impact Capital Managers, a network of over 60 market rate impact investors in the United States managing over $5B in AUM.
Brian began his career in impact investing in 2004 when he joined Acumen, where he was the Chief Investment Officer, overseeing the investment of more than $50M into portfolio companies in India, Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Ghana. Prior to Acumen, Brian was a consultant at McKinsey & Company, a program officer at the Corporation for National Service and on the founding team of several for-profit and non-profit social enterprises. He serves on the boards of several of the portfolio companies at Bridges and two non-profits: VisionSpring and Candid.
Job Titles:
- Americas / Managing Director - GDI Americas
- Managing Director at GDI Americas
Chintan is Managing Director at GDI Americas, where he leads a portfolio of initiatives focused on compassion, dignity, and kindness. He also serves as Chair of the GDI South Asia board. He is Founder and Principal of Leapfrog to Value which is expanding financing for compassionate and high quality health systems. Chintan serves on the founding team and governing board of the Dignity Restoration Project, a frontrunner in the American race reparations movement. He is co-founder of and advisor to Usha Lesizalo, an initiative dedicated to compassionate and high quality care for mothers and newborns. He is supporting NEPI expand its evidence-based violence prevention model across Sub Saharan Africa. He was on the founding team of Oxygen Hub, a franchise business expanding oxygen access across Africa. He is the founding board chair of GDI-India and serves on the boards of Alignd and the Detroit Institute for Law and Organizing.
Prior to GDI, he was a leader in McKinsey & Co's public and social sector practice. He started his career at Tower Street Prison in Jamaica, conducting ethnographic research on HIV. Chintan is a graduate of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and majored in political science at Duke University. He was a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow at Princeton University and a Fulbright Scholar to Jamaica. Chintan plays capoeira angola and dances.
Job Titles:
- Americas / Senior Manager - GDI Americas
- Senior Manager at GDI Americas
As a Senior Manager at GDI Americas, Cyrielle leads projects and supports initiatives in GDI's jobs and livelihoods portfolio, such as the Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN), for which she provides strategic support and leads learning activities. Prior to joining GDI, Cyrielle was working as a Strategy Manager for the UK development finance institution (CDC Group), a government-backed investment fund deploying capital in Africa and South Asia to support private sector development and job creation. Cyrielle started her career as a management consultant with Accenture, delivering projects for private and public sector clients in France and in the UK.
Cyrielle holds a Master's Degree in Development Studies from the University of Oxford and a Master's Degree in Public Affairs from Sciences Po Paris. She is currently based in Washington, D.C. In her personal time, Cyrielle enjoys hiking in the Appalachians and looking for new bird species in her neighborhood.
Job Titles:
- Leader
- Senior Associate
- Africa / Senior Associate - GDI Africa
- Senior Associate - GDI Africa
Daisy Chesang is a Senior Associate on the GDI Africa team. Daisy is an experienced leader with a proven track record in driving impactful multi-stakeholder initiatives and fostering innovation across various sectors, with a key focus on program management and innovation strategies, with an approach to problem-solving in sectors of Entrepreneurship, Startup development, and Creative Initiatives. Within her role as Senior Associate, Daisy specializes in launching and operationalizing initiatives for systemic and scaled change.
Daisy joins GDI Africa supporting the Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN) and the Circularity Economy project, contributing to project management, research, stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, and business development. Her expertise lies in generating ideas for data analysis, drafting work plans, and promoting collaboration.
Before joining GDI Africa, Daisy served as a Creative Pathway Lead at the Global Opportunity Youth Network (Mombasa), spearheading initiatives to empower over 4,000 youths in the creative sector. Notable achievements include fundraising and launching a creative fund of over Euros 600,000 to unlock the creative economy for youth employment, training and providing employment placement for 1200 women and youth in dignified jobs, and fundraising for performance equipment for job opportunities. She also played a pivotal role in leading the development of the Mombasa Film Policy and represented Swahilipot Hub under the UNESCO-Heritopolis Consortium. Daisy's previous roles include working with Metta Nairobi, leading the implementation of innovative programs such as the CDNA Program by The British Council/FCDO, the IKEA foundation project, and with Pangea Accelerator, where she launched a $300,000 worth of investment opportunity for initiatives intending to scale within the African market under the Scaleup Program 2021.
Daisy holds a Bachelor's Degree in Human Science from Kenyatta University and has received recognition in the Creative & Innovation Hubs building under the British Council EA. She has also supported research and mapping of different sectors through reports launched under Hivos East Africa, the British Council, and Early Bird Ventures separately. Daisy continues to volunteer, mentor, and support idea developments for startups in Africa.
Job Titles:
- Manager
- Africa / Manager, GDI Africa
- Manager, GDI Africa
Dan serves as a Manager on GDI's Africa team with extensive work experience in project management, micro-enterprise development, partnership management and sustainable rural development projects for improved livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa.
He previously worked at Village Enterprise where he was the Senior Technical Manager for livelihoods and enterprise support and prior to that, he was the organization's Senior Program Manager - Innovations (Kenya and Uganda). He has also worked in different management positions managing grants from USAID/GIZ and DFID with awards in agri-business development in Nyanza Region of Kenya.
He is a beneficiary of the Erasmus Mundus scholarship to Thessaloniki, Greece for job shadowing to support Syrian refugees. He holds a degree in Development Studies and post-graduate diplomas in Project Management, Business Management and Strategic Management.
Job Titles:
- Americas / Senior Manager, Human Resources - GDI Americas
- Senior Manager of Human Resources at GDI Americas
Danielle is the Senior Manager of Human Resources at GDI Americas. She has spent her professional career working at nonprofits in various roles, including human resources, administrative operations, event planning, fundraising, donor relations, and finance management.
Before joining GDI, Danielle was Director of Talent and Administration at Independent Sector and Deputy Director of Human Resources and Operations at New America. Danielle has a BA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, an MPA with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from American University, and is a senior certified human resource professional (SHRM-SCP) through the Society of Human Resources Management. In her free time, Danielle is either playing tennis or watching Premier League football.
Job Titles:
- Controller at GDI Americas
Denis serves as the Controller at GDI Americas working within the finance and operation team and overseeing accounting and finance. Denis has been working in accounting, finance, budget, and administration management both domestically and abroad for more than a decade. Prior to joining GDI, Denis served as an Accountant at ACDI/VOCA, and as a Finance and Information Manager at Fair Chance, a nonprofit consulting organization in Washington DC. He worked at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine as an Administrative Officer. Denis holds a Master of Science in International Economics from the University of Economics and Law Kyiv, Ukraine.
Job Titles:
- Africa / County Program Manager, Murang'a - GDI Africa
- County Program Manager, Murang'a - GDI Africa
Douglas is the County Program Manager - Murang'a County on the GDI Africa team. Douglas has over 23 years of extensive experience in youth empowerment, agricultural production, agribusiness research and humanitarian development work within commercial, food security and livelihood projects. He has participated in and managed implementation within complex, multi-sectoral cross-organizational, multi-stakeholder projects with multiple stakeholders.
Job Titles:
- Africa / Board Member - GDI Africa
- Board Member - GDI Africa
- Member of the GDI Africa Board
Dr. Bernard Olayo is a member of the GDI Africa board and a Kenyan physician and public health specialist with more than 14 years' experience as an Africa based Public Health Practitioner. He is also an entrepreneur and is the founder of a non-profit organization (Center for Public Health and Development) and three social enterprises working toward improving access to quality healthcare in Africa.
He currently serves as the Chair where he provides strategic direction, thought leadership and oversight of the CPHD programs and subsidiary social enterprises. Dr. Olayo is also a technical team member for several World Bank programs in East Africa and an advisor to several ministries of Health in the region- with the main focus on enhancing the role of private sector in improving access to health services and goods through public private partnerships.
He previously worked for Columbia University's Earth Institute as a health specialist in the Millennium Villages Project, and Italian Development Corporation as a Health Advisor. He started his career with the Ministry of Health in Kenya as medical officer of health.
Job Titles:
- Board Member - GDI East Asia
- East Asia / Board Member - GDI East Asia
- Member of the GDI East Asia Board
Dr. Liow Chee Hsiang is a member of the GDI East Asia board and a senior lecturer in the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (National University of Singapore) since 2016. He currently lectures both Master and undergraduate students in global health, programme design/ implementation/ monitoring / evaluation (DIME).
Prior to that, Chee Hsiang worked in Bless China International (a US-based NGO in Yunnan Province) China for 14 years where he was the Managing Director of Operations and chairman of the General Management Team overseeing about 20 public health and global health projects including village doctor training, medical and dental clinics, HIV prevention and care, sex-workers projects, physical rehabilitation centres for the disabled and cerebral palsy children, autism centres, orphan prevention, orphan foster care projects and disaster relief. He has also been involved in several global health programmes in the Greater Mekong Region including HIV prevention, TB, and community-based healthcare. He has undertaken various evaluations in the region including China and Cambodia.
He advises a number of Singapore-based and International VWOs/NGOs and agencies in programme monitoring, evaluation and research (including the National Council of Social Services, Lien Aid, TOUCH Community Services, Children's Cancer Foundation). He is also on the board of Bless China International.
Job Titles:
- Certified Public Accountant
- Board Member - GDI Solutions
- Member of GDI Solutions Board
Dr. Omchand Mahdu is a member of GDI Solutions board and an international development practitioner with experience in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Tunisia, Uganda, and other parts of Africa. In his current role as Local Capacity Development Advisor at USAID/Uganda, he supports accountability, risk management, and system strengthening by coordinating and overseeing capacity building activities of local implementing partners.
Omchand is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and holds several other professional certificates. He is an Associate Professor of Practice at Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources and Environment where he teaches Global Issues in Environmental Sustainability in the Online Master of Natural Resources program.
Job Titles:
- East Asia / Senior Associate - GDI East Asia
- Senior Associate at GDI East Asia
Edmond is a Senior Associate at GDI East Asia, working on youth, education, and poverty-related projects.
Before joining GDI, he spent 6 years in the Hong Kong social impact sectors, focusing on education, youth, and talent development. He has extensive experience working in a start-up organization that started from scratch, with diverse hands-on experience in organizational capacity building and strategy implementation. He has also been actively engaged in different communities for driving human-centric impact locally since his university days. He holds a B.A in Government and Public Administration from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the GDI Americas Board
Elchi is the Chair of the GDI Americas board and a Principal at the Carlyle Group in New York City. Prior to joining Carlyle in 2014, Elchi was Director and Counsel at Credit Suisse, where he served as head of Alternative Investments Legal for the Americas. Elchi also worked at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen + Hamilton LLP specializing in complex financial transactions, including private investment fund formation and private acquisitions.
Job Titles:
- CFO
- Americas / CFO & Treasurer - GDI Americas
- CFO & Treasurer - GDI Americas
Elizabeth is CFO and the Treasurer of GDI Americas and GDI's subsidiary legal entities. In addition to leading finance and general operations across GDI, she also supports initiatives in launching their own organizations, and building policy, procedure, and systems to ensure they run effectively. Beyond her finance and operations roles, Elizabeth leads GDI efforts to identify and implement practical solutions to barriers to localizing development.
Elizabeth has experience managing finance, accounting, compliance, human resources, and planning at a range of non-profit organizations in positions focused on capacity development. Before joining GDI, she served as Senior Director of Finance and Accounting at NASTAD and as Vice President of Finance and Administration at Education for Employment. Elizabeth received her MBA from Georgetown University and studied both International Development and Accounting as an undergraduate.
Job Titles:
- Research Associate at GDI East Asia
Emily Ma is a Research Associate at GDI East Asia. She is on the evaluation team responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of a Urban Graduation Approach in transitional housing in Hong Kong. Prior to joining the GDI, she worked as an assistant researcher at the Our Hong Kong Foundation where she conducted research on mental health policies and primary healthcare development. She has experience in HIV prevention research in a jail setting (Rhode Island, USA), designing and implementing a teacher-capacity building and youth mental health program in rural China, and teaching global health courses. She is passionate about promoting access to education for marginalized youths, services for people with substance use disorders, and promoting the welfare of incarcerated persons and their families. She graduated with a Masters of Public Health and a Psychology B.A. from Brown University, U.S.A.
Job Titles:
- Africa / County Program Manager, Taita - Taveta - GDI Africa
- County Program Manager, Taita - Taveta - GDI Africa
Fondo is the County Program Manager for Taita-Taveta on the GDI Africa team. Before joining GDI, Fondo worked as Project Manager for the Food Assistance project in Dadaab and as Project Manager for the Drylands Development program for the World Vision Kenya-Machakos Site.
Fondo has also worked as the Project Manager for Governance, Environmental Conservation and Livelihoods, which was funded by World Vision Canada. Prior to that, he worked with Kenya Seed Company as a Field Officer in the North Rift - Kenya for over 17 years with World Vision in their livelihoods, food security and emergency aid programs, and with the Ministry of Agriculture.
Fondo is a trained Agricultural Engineer from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) - Kenya. He also holds a certificate in Project Management from JKUAT and is a member of the Rain Water Harvesting group.
Job Titles:
- Americas / Board Member - GDI Americas
- Board Member - GDI Americas
- Member of the GDI Americas Board
Ernest is a member of the GDI Americas board and a co-founder of the BroadReach Group of companies which focuses on using innovation and technology to improve the health and well-being of populations around the world. He is an internationally renowned expert in strategic planning, systems and large-scale program implementation in the health and social sectors. Ernest's recent work has focused on the intersection of using new 4th Industrial Revolution technologies, big data analytics and organizational behavioral psychology to improve population and individual healthcare outcomes. He has worked with the private sector, governments, international normative organizations and non-governmental organizations across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and North America.
Ernest was selected a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and was named one of eighteen "Global Health Heroes" by TIME Magazine for his leadership in launching Africa's first HIV public sector treatment program in Botswana. He is on the board of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and has previously served on the board of the Medicines for Malaria Venture and on the advisory board of Gilead Health Sciences. He was a member of the President's Advisory Council on HIV & AIDS during President Obama's term. He is a frequent plenary speaker on strategies for implementing large-scale health and social sector interventions.
Before co-founding BroadReach, Ernest worked for ACHAP (funded by the Merck & Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations) in Botswana. Prior to that he worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company. Ernest earned his BS with honors in Chemistry, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his MD from the Harvard Medical School, his MPH from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and his MBA from the Said School of Business at Oxford University (Balliol College) as a Fulbright Scholar.
Job Titles:
- Africa / Project Manager, Shared Services Platform - GDI Africa
- Project Manager for the Shared Services Platform
- Project Manager, Shared Services Platform - GDI Africa
Esther Ogol is the Project Manager for the Shared Services Platform initiative on the GDI Africa team, where she leads all project management aspects of the Shared Services Platform activities including communication, planning, and logistics. Esther has over twelve years of experience in integrated International Development, Public Administration and Management, Public Health, and Research.
Before joining GDI, she was the interim Programme Officer, Global Initiatives, TrustLaw at Thomson Reuters Foundation, where she provided technical and project management support for all global initiatives. She also worked as a Senior Research Manager at Kantar, Public Division, East Africa, managing diverse social and economic development projects. Esther began her career in 2010 as a Research Assistant for the World Bank Group and quickly grew to become a Research Consultant and further nurturing her penchant for Public Health.
Esther is also a Mandela Washington Fellowship 2015 and was hosted at Florida International University to pursue Public Administration and Management. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Integrated Community Development. She is currently completing her Masters of Business Administration and Management in Strategic Management. Esther plans to continue advocating for the empowerment of the vulnerable in our societies with the ultimate goal of achieving equal opportunities and sustainable development.
Job Titles:
- East Asia / Personal Assistant & Office Manager - GDI East Asia
- Personal Assistant and Office Manager at GDI East Asia
Grace is Personal Assistant and Office Manager at GDI East Asia. Grace has more than 30 years experiences in the position of Secretary, Personal Assistant, Administrative Officer. She spent 17 years in Cisco Sales Organization as Administrative Assistant, Operations Manager in supporting Managing Directors and Vice President. Grace has experience in operations, office management, and event organizing. Grace was born in Hong Kong and speaks Cantonese, English and Mandarin. She likes living a healthy life, yoga, movies, and traveling.
Job Titles:
- Americas / Board Member - GDI Americas
- Board Member - GDI Americas
- Founder and CEO of Essential
Grant Gordon is the Founder and CEO of Essential, a non-profit that leverages advances in basic science to create the next generation of cost-effective lifesaving products to tackle malnutrition. Prior to launching Essential, Grant was the Senior Director of Innovation Strategy at the International Rescue Committee, where he supported the organization's 50+ R&D team to design, test, and scale new breakthrough products and services for humanitarian response. Grant has worked in leadership positions at the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and has helped a number of UN agencies and NGOs establish new research and innovation units. He has worked and lived in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, West Africa, Somalia, and Haiti. Grant holds a Ph.D. in political science with a specialization in applied statistics from Columbia University and has a BA in public policy from the University of Chicago.
Job Titles:
- Americas / Board Member - GDI Americas
- Board Member - GDI Americas
- Member of the GDI Americas Board
Gretchen is a member of the GDI Americas board and is currently the Chief Executive Officer of GenerationHope, Inc., a consumer products company that reinvests its profits in innovative programming for the economic advancement of Filipinos.
Gretchen is passionate about building organizations that drive innovative, market-oriented solutions to enable inclusive growth, and has worked with a range of organizations to that end, including Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Company, the US Department of State, TechnoServe and PRADAN. Gretchen is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and in addition to GDI, she currently serves on the Boards of GenerationHope and Friends of Hope in the Philippines.
She holds a Masters in International Development from Harvard University and has an A.B. in Economics, Spanish and Latin American Studies, summa cum laude, from Duke University.
Job Titles:
- Board Member - GDI Solutions
- Local Partner Transition Advisor
Habtamu Girma is currently a Local Partner Transition Advisor at USAID. He previously served as the GDI Development Impact Bond Compliance and Project Manager and the Executive Director of GDI Solutions, LLC. Prior to GDI, Habtamu served as a Senior Manager for Compliance at NASTAD. In this role, he was responsible to provide technical guidance and monitor procurement, contract and grant management practices, and compliance matters of the organization. Prior to this position, he has served as an Associate Director for the NASTAD Global Program and was responsible for leading the planning, implementation, monitoring, and successful transition and close-out of several USG funded projects in Eastern and Southern Africa region (Ethiopia, Botswana, Uganda, Mozambique, Nigeria and South Africa). Prior to joining NASTAD, Habtamu served as a Technical Officer for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-PEPFAR program in Ethiopia where he was responsible for overseeing multiple cooperative agreements, grants, and contracts of several local and international development partners. Habtamu received his BA in Management and MA in International Relations from Addis Ababa University and his MPH from the University of Maryland. Habtamu is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Federal Contract Manager (CFCM).
Job Titles:
- Fellow of the Aspen Institute
He is a Kauffman Fellow and a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. He has a BA from Harvard, an MBA from Stanford University, and a MA in City and Regional Planning from UC-Berkeley. He teaches courses in social entrepreneurship and systems change and leadership for corporate accountability at Harvard Business School.
Job Titles:
- Americas / Senior Accountant & CPA Candidate - GDI Americas
- Senior Accountant & CPA Candidate - GDI Americas
- Senior Accountant and
Inga Finkova is a Senior Accountant and CPA Candidate at GDI Americas. Inga prepares the accounting work for GDI and Subsidiaries. She has experience working in Accounting, Taxation, and human resources for mid-size and large corporations. Before joining GDI, she worked for a large foreign corporation as a full-charge Accountant working on dual financial reporting and taxation. Moreover, she had experience in public accounting for more than 7 years, where she gained experience working for various sized companies in different industries. Inga holds a B.A. in Accounting, Analysis & Audit. Inga is a mother of two beautiful girls, loves to travel.
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- Africa / County Project Manager, Makueni - GDI Africa
- County Project Manager, Makueni - GDI Africa
Jackson is the County Project Manager for Makueni on the GDI Africa team. Prior to joining GDI, he worked with the Zero Grazing Society of Kenya as a Project Manager, where he supported dairy farmers to improve their production. Jackson also worked with World Vision Kenya for 17 years as an Agriculture Extension Development Facilitator and Project Coordinator, supporting livelihoods and resilience projects.
Jackson holds a BSc in Organic Agriculture from Uganda Martyrs University (UMU) and a Diploma in Disaster Management from the Kenya Institute of Social Work and Community Development (KISWD). He is passionate about working with rural farmers and building their capacity on smart agriculture farming for sustainable livelihoods. In his free time, Jackson enjoys nature walks.
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- Human Resources Lead - GDI South Asia
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- Board Member - GDI Africa
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- Managing Director - GDI Americas
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- Senior Manager - GDI East Asia
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- Senior Associate, Operations and Human Resources - GDI Americas
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- Managing Director - GDI Americas
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- Associate Director - GDI Americas
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- Board Member - GDI Africa
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- Associate Director & Shared Services Lead - GDI Africa
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- Senior Associate - GDI South Asia
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- Staff Accountant - GDI Americas
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- Manager, Operations & Compliance - GDI Americas
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- Senior Manager - GDI East Asia
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- Human Resources Lead - GDI Africa
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- Senior Associate - GDI South Asia
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- Human Resources Lead, Shared Services Platform - GDI Africa
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- Senior Associate - GDI East Asia
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- Board Chair - GDI East Asia
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- Senior Associate - GDI East Asia
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- Africa / Board Member - GDI Africa
- Board Member - GDI Africa
- Member of the GDI Africa Board
Sewit Ahderom is a member of the GDI Africa Board and the Co-Founder and COO of Gro Intelligence. Previously, Sewit was a Vice President at Helios Investment Partners, an Africa-focused private investment fund with more than $1.7 billion in capital under management. She joined Helios after working with IPS, an investment arm of the Aga Khan Development Network focused on food and agro processing as well as infrastructure development. Before moving to Nairobi, Sewit was a VP at Citigroup's Investment Banking Division in NY where she worked in the leveraged finance and global portfolio management teams. Sewit holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of Connecticut and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.
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- Associate Director, Operations & Special Projects - GDI Americas
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- Finance Officer - GDI Africa
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- Managing Director - GDI South Asia
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- Senior Associate - GDI Americas
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- Staff Accountant, Finance & Operations - GDI Americas
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- Board Member - GDI East Asia
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- Board Member - GDI Americas
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- Senior Associate - GDI Africa