President Nelson Mandela is the former president of South Africa. Since his release from prison in February 1990, Nelson Mandela has emerged as one of the world's most significant and inspiring leaders. After his presidency, he continues to champion causes related to health, democracy and education through the work of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. President Mandela serves as an Honorary Board Member for VillageReach.

Graça Machel  is widely recognized for her dedication to education and leadership in organizations devoted to children. Mrs. Machel currently serves as Chairperson of the Commonwealth Foundation, President of the Foundation for Community Development (FDC) and as Chair of The Vaccine Fund, an organization established in 1999 to address the need for Vaccines and immunizations in the world’s poorest countries. Mrs. Machel is also the former First Lady and Minister of Education for Mozambique.  She serves as an Honorary Board Member for VillageReach. 

Seth Berkley, MD  is President and Chief Executive Officer pf the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). Dr. Berkley is a medical doctor specializing in infectious disease epidemiology and international health. A member of several international steering committees and boards, Dr. Berkley has consulted or worked in over 25 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He is the author of 85 publications and has written extensively on infectious disease, participating as a core team member in writing the World Bank's 1993 World Development Report on Health. Prior to founding IAVI, Dr. Berkley was Associate Director of the Health Sciences Division at the Rockefeller Foundation. He has also worked for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and the Carter Center.

Alexandra Brookshire Esq. attended the University of Texas and Stanford University's law schools, graduating with honors from the University of Texas in 1981. She began her professional career in New York City at the firm of Dewey Ballentine.  After New York, she moved to Seattle and was a partner at Seattle's largest corporate and securities law firm, Perkins Coie.  There, she specialized for 10 years in corporate finance, mergers and acquisition, and intellectual property for technology companies.  In 1995, she became Vice President and General Counsel for Wall Data Incorporated, a public company specializing in enterprise network connectivity software.  She is now serving on various for-profit and not-for profit boards and is a consultant to several medical device and technology companies.

Michael Free, PhD has served as vice president and senior advisor for technologies at Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) for two decades. Dr. Free is the strategic program leader for Technology Solutions, the leadership role in PATH health technology programs, which includes assessment of need, technology development and transfer, global introduction, development of international standards, program planning and management, and policy development. His major program areas are technology design and development, local production of health and family planning products, introduction strategies, and quality assurance of products in the field. He is the project leader of the Technologies for Health (HealthTech) project, an 18-year-old, USAID-funded, multi-million dollar program to develop appropriate technologies to improve maternal and child health. Dr. Free brings 30 years of experience in design and development of health technologies for underserved populations. He holds four patents, and extensive publications in research, technology and health issues. He holds a doctorate in physiology. Dr. Free is a British citizen with permanent resident status in the United States.

Paul Kleindorfer, PhD is a Professor of Management Science, Economics and Public Policy at The Wharton School.  The author of several publications, Dr. Kleindorfer’s current interests include risk management for the energy sector; the economics of postal and delivery services; environmental strategy; and natural hazards insurance and mitigation. He has served as a consultant in the areas of economics, strategy, and public policy of regulated industries for federal and state agencies in the U.S. and abroad, including National Grid Company, NYNEX, the U.S. Departments of Energy and State, AT&T, and various Postal Administrations.

Blaise Judja-Sato is the Founder and Chair of VillageReach. Blaise is passionate about providing economic opportunities and improving access to essential services for people throughout the world. In 2000, deeply affected by his participation in relief efforts for flood victims in Mozambique, Blaise founded VillageReach. Blaise worked as a senior consultant at Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) advising companies and governments on strategic, organizational and information technologies issues. Shortly after graduating from the Wharton School, Blaise joined AT&T International where he developed and implemented telecommunications solutions to bring broadband services to Africa. Through this experience, he became keenly aware of how technology and entrepreneurship can empower people to transform their lives and communities. In 1996, Blaise joined a Craig McCaw and Bill Gates venture to develop satellite-based broadband communications services. Blaise and his colleagues challenged traditional satellite operators by enlisting broad international support and securing worldwide spectrum allocation and licenses. In addition to his leadership role at VillageReach, Blaise is active in a variety of charitable efforts to address global inequities. He serves as president of the Nelson Mandela Foundation USA, an organization that supports Mr. Mandela's work to combat AIDS, improve rural development, increase access to education, and promote reconciliation and peace-building. Blaise received an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a Master's degree in telecommunications engineering from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications in Paris, and a Master's degree in applied mathematics from the Université des Sciences de Montpellier in France. He is fluent in French and English and conversant in Portuguese and several African languages. Blaise is a native of Cameroon where most of his family still lives.

Paul Suzman is the founder of OfficeLease a six person real estate firm that has specialized, since 1981, in commercial building tenant and buyer representation. OfficeLease provides counsel to numerous Seattle area companies on strategic real estate planning, lease vs. purchase negotiations and alternative facility evaluations. Mr. Suzman attended Hilton College and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and immigrated to Seattle in 1979.  He serves on the boards of Pacific Science Center and VillageReach. He has also served on the boards of several local companies and non-profit organizations including University of Washington Presidents Club, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Henry Art Gallery.  He was a founding member of the Washington Software Alliance, is a mentor for Seattle University MBA candidates and is active in Seattle Rotary Club.  Mr. Suzman is also a member of the Washington Athletic and Seattle Tennis Clubs and is an avid cyclist and has served as faculty on numerous real estate seminars. He has also authored numerous papers and articles on the subject of real estate negotiation.

 

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USA

Jeff Dossett is executive producer and general manager for the MSN media network in the United States.  In this role, he provides overall leadership for audience content and programming strategy and execution.  Jeff joined Microsoft in 1991 and has served in a variety of senior sales and marketing roles including general manager of Microsoft’s Canadian subsidiary and as Chairman & CEO of MSN Carpoint (now MSN Autos), DealerPoint and general manager of MSN HomeAdvisor (now MSN Real Estate & MSN Lifestyle).  In 2002, Jeff took two years away from his career at Microsoft to pursue his passion for adventure with a goal to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, known as the “Seven Summits”. Reaching the summit of Mount Everest on May 24, 2004, Jeff became the third Canadian in history to successfully complete the Seven Summits.  Jeff holds a degree in business administration with honors from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. He is married and has three children.

Juliette Gimon is a Family Council Member of the Flora Family Foundation. In 2000, as one of the first fellows of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, she co-founded the Global Philanthropy Forum, which is now a project of the World Affairs Council of Northern California. While working with the Forum, Ms. Gimon served as its Outreach and Development Coordinator. After leaving the Global Philanthropy Forum, Ms. Gimon worked at JP Morgan Private Bank as Vice President of Global Philanthropic Services until August of 2005. Ms. Gimon earned her BA in Anthropology from Columbia University. She currently serves on the board of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Synergos Institute, and The Global Fund for Children. She also serves on the Advisory Committee of Youth Philanthropy Worldwide, the Global Philanthropy Forum, and VillageReach.

Leslie Hoffman executive director of Earth Pledge, is a pioneer in the fields of sustainable architecture and agriculture. She holds a degree in architecture and design, and worked as a carpenter and green builder for ten years. Since joining Earth Pledge in 1994, Hoffman has promoted innovative techniques and technologies to deliver urban ecological solutions. She has traveled the globe speaking to naturalists, developers, legislators, chefs and corporations about practical solutions to environmental challenges. Hoffman is an avid gardener who has maintained a small organic coffee farm in Hawaii since 1990. She is also a lifelong transoceanic sailor.

Tricia McKay oversees all activities of the Medina Foundation. Medina is a family foundation whose giving areas include homelessness, hunger, at-risk youth and families and educational assistance to kids at-risk of academic failure. Tricia formerly was the director of the Craig and Susan McCaw Foundation. In this capacity, she also started and managed Team Read, a program in which high school students tutor at-risk second and third graders. Tricia spent two years teaching first-year journalism students history and political science in a small college in Tanzania in East Africa, where she was a volunteer with Jesuit Volunteers International. Prior to that, she was Director of Government Affairs for Washington Natural Gas, following a stint as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Daniel J. Evans in Washington, D.C.

David Patterson received a BA in Mathematics from Hendrix College in 1966, a BS in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University in 1967 and a MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1968. He has managed the design, development and deployment of several systems involving leading-edge technology in computing, software, voice and data communications and satellite systems and networks. Mr. Patterson was responsible for the design concept of the global broadband satellite network at Teledesic, where he served as Tele Vice President of Engineering and Chief Architect. Mr. Patterson is currently Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Populex Corp., where he is responsible for the development of their voting and election management systems. In addition he is a private consultant for high technology companies.

John Wolf received his BSEE, MSEE, and Doctorate of Engineering from the University of Missouri, Rolla.  From 1963 to 1997, he held several senior level positions with the McDonnell Douglas Corporations, including Executive Vice President of the McDonnell Aircraft Company, and Senior Vice President of the Douglas Aircraft Company.  In 1997, Mr. Wolf joined Teledesic, LLC in Seattle, WA as Chief Operating Officer.  He returned to Aeronautics in 1998 as Chief Operating Officer of the Fairchild Dornier Corporation, Germany, where he was responsible for the development, launch and manufacturing of various commercial aircraft.  Mr. Wolf is currently retired and living in Seattle, WA.

International

John Lloyd is the Technical Adviser of Immunization Solutions at PATH Children's Vaccine Program (PATH/CVP) in France.  He is responsible for having initiated the ‘Share’ reward system for Immunization Services, the ‘Data Quality Audit’ for verification of reported immunizations, and the ‘Access’ approach to raise immunization coverage.  Mr. Lloyd has over 30 years of experience designing and evaluating appropriate health technology, primarily in the developing world.  Prior to working at PATH/CVP, he served over 20 years as a technical officer for the Expanded Program for Immunizations at the World Health Organization (WHO/EPI) where he was responsible for Cold Chain and Logistic support.  He received diplomas in Architecture and Urban Planning from the Architectural Association, London in 1970, and in 1976 completed a fellowship at the Center for Environmental Studies, London.  Mr. Lloyd is the author of over 13 publications on immunizations and injection safety in developing nations.

Tom McKown is an Executive Officer and Corporate Vice Present of NN, Inc. (a leading bearing components manufacturer). Based in Shanghai, Mr. McKown is responsible for all business activities within the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to joining NN, Mr. McKown held various management positions within firms operating in Hong Kong, Malaysia, PR China, and Taiwan as well as being involved in various development projects in Africa, Latin America, and Central Asia.

Peter M. Ndumbe, MD is a native of Cameroon where he trained as an MD at the University of Yaounde. He subsequently went to the University of London where he obtained an MSc in Microbiology and a PhD in Virus Immunology. In 1985 he joined the University of Yaounde as lecturer in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, where his research interests have been in the control of vaccine preventable diseases. He has conducted two vaccine trials in Cameroon: hepatitis B introduction into the EPI and a comparison of measles vaccines regarding early immunization. Dr Peter Ndumbe is currently Professor and Head of Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases,  the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University of Yaounde I, the 2^nd Vice President of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences, the Chair of the Task Force on Immunization of the WHO African Region and the Chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee of the Tropical Diseases Research (TDR) Special Programme.

Geoffrey Pasvol, MD, D Phil obtained his Medical Degree from the University of Cape Town in 1972.  He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at The University of Oxford England and obtained his D Phil on the hemoglobinopathies and malaria. In 1983 he was a Research Associate at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, USA.  He was appointed a Wellcome Senior Fellow at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford in 1984 and in 1989 became Director of the Wellcome Research Unit on the Kenyan coast in Kilifi.  He was appointed Professor in Infection & Tropical Medicine, at Imperial College London in 1990 where he has been since.   He is a practising clinician in Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine. His main research interests are in the pathogenesis of severe malaria as well as the immunology, diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis. He is currently Director of the Imperial College, Wellcome Centre for Clinical Tropical Medicine which carries out research mainly on tuberculosis and HIV infection in Lima Peru, Mumbai India  and Cape Town South Africa. 

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