PROJECT HEALTHY CHILDREN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Business Development and Field Operations Manager, Kenya
Alphonse joins Team Kenya as the Business Development and Field Operations Manager. He will lead the Kenyan team in implementing key growth strategies, tactics, and action plans. Alphonse has over 25 years of experience in operations management, procurement and vendor management, regulatory affairs, compliance management, and supply chain management. He has extensive experience in manufacturing, having worked for Colgate Palmolive East Africa, Godrej Consumer Products Limited East Africa, and Reckitt Benckiser.
Job Titles:
- CHAIRMAN of the BOARD
- CO - FOUNDER
Whilst on a professional visit to Honduras, David Dodson and Stephanie Cornell witnessed first hand the devastating effects of malnutrition. Project Healthy Children was thus created from their inspiration to save lives. Just a few years later, David made the decision to leave the private sector altogether and devote his time and attention to the enormous but solvable problem of vitamin and mineral deficiency worldwide. Amongst his many roles, David is not only a Professor at the Stanford Graduate School of business, but is also responsible for leading the board of Directors and guiding the vision of PHC. David leads and inspires this strong and international team with his vision to end malnutrition in our lifetime.
Job Titles:
- Auditor for PwC
- Financial Controller for Tanzania
- Tanzania Country Controller
As Financial Controller for Tanzania, Edson is responsible for ensuring that Sanku has robust financial reporting alongside strong internal controls.
After starting his career as an auditor for PwC, Edson spent seven years at ABSA Bank (Barclays Bank Tanzania) before heading the Finance Department at Zola Electric Tanzania - gathering a unique blend of audit, commercial banking and social enterprise experience.
He is eager to use his skills and knowledge to benefit his fellow Tanzanians.
Job Titles:
- Senior Manager, Partnerships & Government Relations, Kenya
Felistus is an experienced food fortification expert having worked with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) for over 10 years in various leadership positions at both country and global level. Her private sector experience includes 3 years working for Unga Holdings Ltd., one of East Africa's largest millers. She will provide valuable insights that will help us as we adapt our model to the Kenyan market.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Co - Founder
- Co - Founder and CEO / United States
Felix has lived and worked across six developing countries, experiencing diverse cultures and seeing the difference the access to good nutrition has on families. Surveying hundreds of mills in at-risk communities across South Asia, East and Southern Africa, Felix has refined fortification technologies and developed economic models for sustaining rural fortification. Felix leads the overall organizational development, mission, and trajectory of Sanku. He also led all aspects of product development and engineering for the award winning Sanku Dosifier technology. The Mulago Foundation has selected Felix as a Rainer Arnhold Fellow.
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Member of the Board
Graham Weaver (MBA 1999) is Founder and Partner of Alpine Investors, LP in San Francisco; a private equity firm managing five funds totalling $900M in capital. Weaver's primary role is to oversee the fund operations and he is involved in investing, hiring, fundraising, setting the strategy for Alpine, and serving on the boards of several of Alpine's portfolio companies. Prior to joining Alpine, Weaver worked at Oak Hill Capital Management, American Securities Capital Partners and Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. Weaver will teach STRAMGT 210: Managerial Skills, in autumn quarter.
Job Titles:
- Partnerships Senior Manager - Tanzania
Gwao heads our Partnerships Team, leading efforts to enhance our relationships with nutrition stakeholders within Tanzania. He has a wealth of experience in the nutrition field, having worked as a nutrition officer in the Ngorongoro District, a nutrition officer and then Acting Assistant Director Nutrition Services at the Ministry of Health (MOHCDGEC), Program Manager, Food Fortification at Helen Keller International and Country Representative for Millhouse International, a nutrient premix manufacturer. He is proud to join the orange team.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Founder of Impala Investment Holdings
Jane is the Founder of Impala Investment Holdings and brings a broad experience from top global investment banking, private equity and strategy consulting firms. A Ugandan national, Jane brings a key contextual perspective to the board, having provided strategic, financial and operational advisory services to African-USA linked businesses. Jane's passion to improve her African community mirrors that of Sanku's work. Her latest venture brings clean and healthy drinking water to businesses throughout east Africa, utilizing green technology.
Prior to joining Sanku PHC, Janeth worked for the USAID Boresha Afya Program for more than six years. Janeth has also worked at Sightsavers Tanzania, Camfed Tanzania, Barrick Bulyanhulu Gold Mine and CARE International. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of Dar es Salaam and will be key to ensuring the successful implementation of all our donor funded projects.
Joe is the founder and chairman of Commonwealth Financial Network, the largest privately owned, independent RIA-broker/dealer in the United States. He is also chairman of Southworth Development, a golf and resort real estate company with award-winning properties in the United States, Scotland and The Bahamas. In addition to his business endeavors, Joe is a noted philanthropist. In 2012, he established of the Deitch Leadership Institute at the Boston Latin School, the oldest public school in the United States. Most recently, he launched the Elevate Prize, which will identify, empower, and celebrate individuals and organizations whose ideas and endeavors elevate the human experience. Joe is also the author of the #1 Amazon bestseller Elevate: An Essential Guide to Life.
Originally from Puerto Rico, Johann has lived in various countries around the world. He has a Master of Science in Biology from the University of Texas and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida. His career in international development began with an interest in supporting and improving food systems and access to nutrition. He joined Sanku from the US Peace Corps and uses his experience in modelling and analytics to support the development of Sanku's data, reporting, and monitoring systems.
Job Titles:
- Director of Manufacturing and Production
Job Titles:
- Food Technician & Nutritionist
Josephine has a passion for nutrition and science that shines through her work every day. Josephine joined our team after completing a nutrition project with World Vision as acting Project Manager. Josephine's dedication to nutrition has taken her abroad to Belgium where she attended the Belgian Nutrition Society Congress- Adding value to nutrition research BNS- Brussels, Belgium. Josephine is committed to seeing the day when the critical change in her country to improve access to good nutrition for all people is here.
After leading a green-focused building project in Cambodia for at-risk youths, Leah set her sights on improving the health of children in Africa. Leah spent four years as the In-Country International Director for a Cambodian NGO, where she was integral in scaling the organization's programming, in particular the nutrition initiative to combat the stunting rates. Leah brings a wide range of knowledge and experience in development fieldwork, as well as ten years background working in Media throughout Australia.
Mary brings over 30 years experience with broad-based finance, operations and business focus across a range of large and small businesses in diverse industries and across many countries. Mary is pivotal to the leadership of our finances and guides the team on transparency with tight controls and systems. Mary holds a B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara and joined Sanku in 2016 to help strengthen our finance procedures as we scale. Mary is passionate about our work because she has experienced it to be one of the most cost-effective ways to fight malnutrition.
Job Titles:
- Head of People Operations
Job Titles:
- Director of Development and Communications
Michelle joins Sanku from The Power of Nutrition, where she was the Director of Strategic Engagement for seven years, driving collaborative partnerships with the private and public sectors. She excels in managing donor relationships and interpreting major donor motivations innovatively in the context of changing and expanding funding priorities. Michelle spent more than 25 years in finance as a capital market fixed-income specialist before joining international development. She leads Sanku's Development and Communications Team.
Ten years ago Ned co-founder d.light, an innovation that came out of Stanford University. While attending the Design for Extreme Affordability program at Stanford, Ned created his first prototype for families without electricity: a simple, battery-powered LED light. After graduating with an MBA in 2007, Ned turned the idea into a for-profit social enterprise, now reaching 75 million people who previously lacked access to electricity with a range of solar solutions. Ned brings the vision to the board of how to implement ideas at high scale, and like the Sanku Dosifier, Ned has already proved that a creative and radical idea can reach millions of people with a life changing solution.
Nelson joined Sanku from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), Kenya where he was working as a Marketing Communications Specialist. Prior to that, Nelson has worked with Asian BGE - Dafabet Kenya and Leisure and Travel Guides East Africa: Go Places in Kenya. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Communication and Advertising from Moi University, Kenya and is also a certified marketer by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) - UK.
Job Titles:
- Senior Manager, Field Operations, Tanzania
Stanslaus joined Sanku from DHL Tanzania Limited, where he was the Commercial Manager. Stanslaus has more than ten years of experience in operations, sales, marketing, management, and business development. He holds an MBA in International Marketing from Kampala International University and is an expert in optimizing the potential of businesses and teams to maximize customer satisfaction.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Member Emeritus of the Board
Stephanie is the co-founder of Project Healthy Children. She created Strategic Grant Partners, a coalition of families that combines philanthropic investing and pro bono consulting to address issues for children in poverty across Africa. Managing Director for Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation (DRK), Stephanie also currently serves on the boards of DRK portfolio organizations including Catie's Closet, Clean Energy Trust, Crisis Text Line, City Health Works, D-Rev, IRAP, Lava Mae, Upstream, StrongMinds and Y2Y Harvard Square. After completing the Harvard Advanced Leadership fellowship, Stephanie has been an advisor and board member for several nonprofit and philanthropic organizations including Demand Abolition, Year Up, Partners in Health, WGBH, RefugePoint, Resurge, Share Our Strength and Amazon Conservation Team.
Job Titles:
- Director of Information Systems
Wangechi is an International Development professional with 3+ years of experience in fundraising and project management. She is passionate about evidence-based solutions, which unlock systems-level change and alleviate global poverty and inequality.
Wangechi works alongside our Director of Development to manage Sanku's existing donor portfolio and find new donors to support Sanku's continued expansion throughout East Africa. She holds a Bachelor of Laws from Strathmore University and is currently doing her Master of Science in International Development at SOAS University of London.
Our Head of Supply Chain, Wilson Chonjo, spent most of his career at Zola Electric, where he led the development and implementation of their regional supply chain strategy to overcome Covid-19 related logistics hurdles, achieve cost savings and reduce delivery times. He is excited about helping us achieve our number 1 KPI - ensuring that our partner mills always have everything they need to fortify their flour.