LEADERSHIP AFRICA USA - Key Persons
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- Member of the Advisory Committee
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- Member of the Advisory Committee
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- Member of the Advisory Committee
- Founder of Africare
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- Member of the Advisory Committee
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- Vice - President, Research & Program Development, International Foundation for Education & Self - Help ( IFESH )
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- President, African University of Science
Dr. Hilary Inyang, President, African University of Science and Technology & Duke Energy Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering & Science, University of North Carolina, Charlotte.
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- Director, Africa Education Initiative, USAID
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- Member of the Advisory Committee
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- Member of the Advisory Committee
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- Member of the Advisory Committee
Karelle Samuda is Research Associate at Leadership Africa USA, where she provides programmatic and research support. Prior to joining Leadership Africa USA, Ms. Samuda was Special Assistant to the President at the Center for Global Development, where her responsibilities ranged from managing communications with external and internal constituents to providing extensive support for the president's research agenda.
Ms. Samuda has had experience working in the area of youth development as Co-Chair of the Next Generation: Youth Programs & Initiatives with the Washington-based Institute of Caribbean Studies. As Co-Chair, she was primarily responsible for developing programs that focused on youth from the Caribbean Diaspora. Ms. Samuda has interned at international organizations such as the Inter- American Development Bank and the Organization of American States. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Washington and Lee University, Virginia, and a Master of Public Policy in International Policy Development from Georgetown University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
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- Member of the Advisory Committee
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- Education Program Director, World Cocoa Foundation
Shehnaz Rangwala is the Program Director for Leadership Africa USA, where she is responsible for the design, implementation and management of programs in the United States and Africa.
Prior to launching Leadership Africa USA, Ms. Rangwala was the Program Director at Education Africa USA, and before that worked at Bread for the World, a D.C.-based nonprofit, grassroots lobbying organization that works on domestic and international hunger and poverty issues. Before joining Bread she was Executive Assistant /Coordinator & Advisor for International Programming at the International Center, University of Missouri-Columbia where she encouraged the achievement of the University's campus internationalization objectives by strengthening relations between the international student community and campus communities; addressed diversities, promoted relationship building and increased the number of events with an international focus. She coordinated various grant and scholarship programs and worked with international student recruiting.
Ms. Rangwala has experience teaching International Trade in Textiles, providing students with a broad understanding of the global textile and apparel industry by emphasizing current global trends, prevailing global practices, trends in production and consumption, and the United States as an importing/exporting country.
Ms. Rangwala holds a M. Sc. in Textiles & Apparel Management from
the University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri, and a M.A. in Media Communications from Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri. She also has a Diploma in International Tourism Management from the Indian International Trade Center, Mumbai, India. Ms. Rangwala was a Fulbright Finalist to Mauritius where she researched the impact of industrialization on lives of women and children in the textile and apparel industry.
Ms. Rangwala has lived and worked in South Africa, Turkey, Thailand and Mauritius. She has extensive experience with issues related to education and international trade related to women.
Susan Birrell is a native of Washington DC with a twenty-five year background in office administration and management. Her professional experiences have included fundraising, financial management, property management, advertising, marketing and managing the operations of a "big six" accounting firm in Washington D.C.
Her responsibilities at Leadership Africa USA focus primarily on office operations and management, bookkeeping, and assisting the president with correspondence, proposal development and fund raising.
Susan majored in Journalism at California State University, Los Angeles, studied Real Estate Development at the Florida Keys Community College, Key West, and has earned certificates from several business related educational centers.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Committee
- Source Trust
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- Chief Executive Officer
- President
Walker A. Williams is President and Chief Executive Officer of Leadership Africa USA. Mr. Williams brings more than three decades of experience working with governments, corporations, NGOs and multilateral institutions in the U.S. and overseas.
Beginning in 1992 and continuing until he founded Leadership Africa USA in 2006, Mr. Williams served as President and Founder of Education Africa USA, focused on addressing critical educational challenges facing South Africa's first democratically-elected government. He facilitated the following programs and projects: Education Africa Presidential and Premier Education Awards, Nelson Mandela Presidential Medallions, the Walter Sisulu Scholarship and Training Fund, and fundraising support for Education Africa's programs in South Africa.
As a consultant, Mr. Williams has worked with more than 100 NGOs actively involved in development issues (gender equality, economic development, education, agriculture, environmental and health issues). He worked with international and U.S. government agencies, including the U.S. Department of State, USAID, and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Mr. Williams is a graduate of Boston University, where he earned a degree in communications. He also attended Seton Hall and Rutgers University's Graduate Schools of Business Administration.