What We Do   |   Our Team

Alexandra Brookshire, Esq is a Director Emeritus at VillageReach, having served on the Board of Advisors and Board of Directors since VillageReach’s inception.  She 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.

Mr. Andrew M.A. Machado heads the Human Resources and Administration Department at the UNC Project. Before joining the UNC Project, he has served as Director of Operations and Compliance at the International Training and Education Centre for Health (I-TECH Malawi), overseeing operations management of the organization. He worked with the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training as a Labor Officer. He is also the former Chairperson of the Advisory Council for World Vision Malawi, and was also a Board Member for the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi (CADECOM). He is the current Board Chairperson for VillageReach Trust in Malawi.  Mr. Machado holds a Master of Science, Leadership and Change Management Degree from Leeds Beckett University and also a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from University of Malawi, The Polytechnic.

Didine Kaba is Professor at the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department of the Kinshasa School of Public Health. She has participated in numerous consultations with the Ministry of Health and its partners as well as with international organizations (such as CDC, USAID, Global Fund, ICF/Measure Evaluation, GAVI) on several topics, including maternal and child health, safety household food, HIV/AIDS, the health system in general, re-emerging diseases such as monkeypox and the Ebola virus. She served as Country Director during five years for the PEPFAR/CDC-funded project at Tulane University in the DRC that focused on technical and scientific support for the strengthening of programs for the prevention, care and monitoring of HIV/AIDS as well as the production of strategic information on HIV/AIDS in the DRC. She is currently the principal investigator of a CDC/Atlanta-funded monkeypox (Monkeypox) project. Didine was a member of the ESPK management committee in charge of academic affairs, and also served as the ESPK Deputy Director in charge of research.

Dr. Fannie Kachale is the Director of Reproductive Health Services at the Ministry of Health in Malawi.  She is a Registered Nurse/Midwife with extensive experience in the health sector. Fannie has worked at both district and central hospitals in clinical and administrative positions. She is committed to improving sexual and reproductive health and rights of adolescents, women, men, and under-served populations. Fannie is a self-starter, who is innovative and is very passionate about reproductive health issues and is one of the champions of the Chipatala Cha Pa Foni (Health Centre by Phone) initiative. She holds a Master of Nursing Science Degree from the University of Namibia and a PhD in Inter-Professional Health Care Leadership Degree from Kamuzu College of Nursing, University of Malawi.

Helene Mambu-Ma-Disu currently serves as a member of the Executive Board for SANRU (a local organization), and as Vice-chair of the executive board of the General Reference Hospital of Sona Bata. She previously worked as EPI Director and worked for over 19 years at WHO as country representative in Rwanda, Mali and Cameroon. Following her retirement from WHO, she worked for Sabin Vaccine Institute, and was a key leading figure in advocating for sustainable financing of immunization by establishing the network of parliamentarians (REPACAV) and creation of laws to secure government financing of immunization.

Iyabo was raised in Lagos, Nigeria and London, England, and has lived in Seattle with her family for more than 15 years. She has more than two decades as a hospitalist and has special interest in post-acute and long term care, minority geriatric populations, complex care management and innovative solutions in transitions of care. Along with her current role as a Post Acute Medical Provider at Swedish, Iyabo also has started a company – Zabico Global – to meet the comprehensive needs of home-bound patients. Iyabo received her undergraduate degree from Warnborough College, Oxford, and did her medical school at St. Georges University School of Medicine in Grenada. She completed her residency at Lenox Hill hospital in NYC. Along with this Iyabo received her Master’s in Healthcare Administration from the University of Washington.

Jacques Kahorha Ntalubanja is Director at Yme JIBU AS Goma. He has over 18 years’ experience having served multiple coordination and directorial roles in project assessment, drafting project proposals, implementation, monitoring and evaluation as well as reporting on emergencies and long-term projects to partners and/or donors. He has previously coordinated the NGO Action Santé Femme, ASA Fasbl and later Yme Grands Lacs, in which he carried out water, hygiene and sanitation programs in Internal Displaced People’s camps in North Kivu (Masisi, Rutshuru and around Goma) and the cholera response in South Kivu. He has also coordinated the AIDS Forum, “FOSI /North Kivu in acronym” for 6 years, an umbrella of 143 NGOs involved in the prevention and fight against HIV /AIDS in North Kivu. He has also served as a freelance journalist collaborating with several news outlets such as AFP, Associated Press, the Guardian, covering several subjects such as politics, security, economic, health and education.

Karen (Kari) E. Glover is a Director Emeritus at VillageReach. She practiced law for over 30 years as a corporate and health care regulatory lawyer, and was Firm Managing Partner of Preston Gates & Ellis LLP, a Seattle-based firm of 430 lawyers with eleven offices in Washington, D.C., the West Coast and Greater China. As such, she presided over its merger to form K&L Gates, an international law firm comprising about 1,700 lawyers on three continents, including Europe and the United Kingdom. Ms. Glover has long experience in civic leadership, including as Chair of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Chair of United Way of King County; President of the King County Library System; and Chair of the Board of Whitman College. Ms. Glover holds degrees with honors from Whitman College (A.B., Philosophy, 1972) and Harvard Law School (J.D., 1975).

Laura is a Director Emeritus at VillageReach. She recently joined Essilor’s Mission team in Singapore as the VP of Strategy, Advocacy and Innovation to help drive the company’s goal of serving the 2.5 billion people who don’t have access to eye glasses. Laura’s team engages in long term partnerships that are critical to achieving the Essilor Group’s mission. Prior to joining Essilor, Laura was a Managing Director at FSG, a boutique social sector consulting firm. Her clients included leading non-profit organizations, private foundations, and corporations focused on strategy, evaluation, stakeholder engagement, and collective impact. Her work included in-country research in dozens of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. She is a former term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an advisor to AshokaU and is an expert reviewer for global health innovators at the CAMTech Innovation Platform at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Global Health.

Mala Ali Mapatano is Professor in the Nutrition Department at the Kinshasa School of Public Health. Prof Mapatano has served since 2015 as a member of the WHO Independent Expert Committee on Yellow Fever Risk Assessment. He has held multiple other positions at the Kinshasa School of Public Health, previously as head of the nutrition department at the Kinshasa School of Public Health (2014-2019); Deputy Director(2009-2012). He has played multiple roles within the Ministry of Health: as Coordinator of the Middle Level Manager (MLM) course for the Expanded Programme of Immunization in DR-Congo (May 2013–Jan 2014); Chief of Cabinet for the Minister of Health (2011-2012);and Deputy Chief of Cabinet (February2010-June 2011,May-December 2008).

Margaret Griffiths is a Finance/Operations management professional with over 30 years of experience in the Puget Sound region, serving both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. She is currently operating a consultancy business, working primarily with non-profit entities requiring specialized financial and analytical services. Her previous roles include CFO/COO roles at The Frye Art Museum, Qualis Health (now Comagine Health, a Congressionally mandated Quality Improvement Organization) and PhenoPath Laboratories, a national medical diagnostic laboratory and contract research firm specializing in cancer diagnostics. Margaret has also held positions with Great Northern Annuity Corporation (now part of Genworth Financial) and PriceWaterhouse Coopers, and currently lectures in Accounting and Financial Management on a part-time basis for the MFA program in Arts Leadership Seattle University. Margaret served as the VillageReach board chair from 2017-2019.

Mari has significant business, operational and community experience through her current role as Chief Operating Officer at Seattle Academy as well as her time as Vice President of People, Customer & Facility Services at PEMCO Insurance and serving 19 years at McKinstry Co. as their VP of Corporate Development. In 2012, Mari spent two+ years in rural Kenya as the Country Director for Med25 International in their “One Community at a Time” project. She worked in partnership with the MoH, community leaders and local stakeholders to identify and implement sustainable social enterprises to provide locally-funded, quality, affordable health care. She served as Board Chair on the Med25 Board of Directors from 2009 until Med25 joined VillageReach in 2017.

Marie-Claire Fwelo is President of the National Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Commission for the COVID-19 Response Committee. She counts over 30 years’ experience in health promotion, risk communications and community engagement in health emergencies, managing/coordinating RCCE responses to Cholera, Ebola, COVID-19 outbreaks in DRC and several countries of the African Region (Guinea, Mauritania, Niger, Central African Republic) as a WHO national officer and later consultant.

Dr. Michael Free is a Director Emeritus at VillageReach. He is a citizen of Great Britain, and has spent the past four decades in the service of creating and introducing appropriate and affordable technologies that address the health care needs of resource-poor populations in developing countries. Starting in 1977, Dr. Free helped to build a new nonprofit organization, now known as PATH, committed to building partnerships with the private for-profit sector to solve special health care needs in the developing world. Currently, Dr Free is an independent advisor and consultant. Since 2013 he has acted a s technical expert and advisor to VentureWell, coaching and mentoring Grand Challenge awardees. He serves as Senior Advisor for Health to the CAPRIA/UNITUS Seed Fund (India), and advisor to several other non-profit organizations. Dr. Free currently serves on WHO’s Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (IPAC) and on the steering committee for the GAVI Vaccine Innovation Prioritization Strategy.

Micheline Mabiala Eleyi has served within the Ministry of Health, initially as a treating doctor, then health zone manager, and later on at several provincial health inspection departments, before becoming EPI Director (2007-2009). She also served as an administrator for UNICEF (2009-2012). Micheline also previously served as a member of the Provincial Polio Emergency Committee (COUP) in Haut Katanga.

Paul Samson Lusamba is Professor at the Medicine Department of the Kinshasa School of Public Health and Director of Research for Tulane University LLC’s subsidiary in DRC. He is a public health specialist with 38 years of experience including 22 in education and research and 16 devoted to the World Health Organization. Specific areas of experience include prevention, control and elimination of communicable diseases; preparedness and response epidemics; epidemiological surveillance; planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of health programs; and health systems strengthening. He has been serving since 2017 as President of DRC’s National Immunization Technical Advisory Group.

Richard (Rick) Fant is an accomplished product development executive with a background in software engineering, product management, and international deployment. He currently works at Nexco, Inc as Vice President of Product Management. Rick was formerly a Vice-President at AVG Technologies leading a cross-functional team building next generation smartphone protection and management products entering growth markets. Over his career he has driven successful product development at Microsoft, Vodafone and Mozilla; launching MSN Mobile, Vodafone 360 and Firefox OS into international markets. In addition to VillageReach, Richard also sits on the Board of Directors for Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) – an industry association focused on expanding the overall mobile ecosystem.

Rowlands Kaotcha is the Global Vice President and Director for Africa and Mexico, The Hunger Project, where he also serves as the Movement for Community Led Development Southern Africa Coordinator.  His previous role with the organization includes, Southern Africa Regional Director, Country Director in Malawi, and dual Country Director, Malawi and Mozambique.  As Country Director of Malawi and Mozambique, he provided leadership of Integrated Sustainable Livelihood programs focusing on food security, micro-finance, education, health & hygiene, HIV&AIDS, gender equality, access to safe drinking water, and environment & natural resource management.  He recently also led The Hunger Project’s expansion into Zambia.  Prior to joining The Hunger Project, Rowlands was Project Manager at United Purpose (formerly Concern Universal) for a Household Food Security Project, and earlier Assistant Seed Production Manager at a Private National Seed Company of Malawi.  Rowlands holds a B.Sc. in Agriculture, an M.Sc. in Agronomy from the University of Malawi’s Bunda College of Agriculture, and an MBA from Eastern and Southern African Institute of Management in Tanzania.

Senior Chief Kwataine was crowned as Senior Chief of the Ngoni tribe in 1999 and he manages a total of 279 villages under his jurisdiction. His efforts and commitment on issues of health development date back to 2004 when he was identified as an outstanding Chief to advance issues of safe motherhood in an effort to curb maternal deaths in the country. In April 2012, he was appointed by the former President of Malawi, Dr. Joyce Banda, to become Board Chairperson of the Presidential Initiative on Maternal Health and Safe Motherhood.  He currently also leads the efforts for community mobilization, training of fellow Chiefs, and the championing of  the “back to school” campaign for girls in Malawi.

Tawina Sukasuka is the Finance and Operations Director, the Governance for Solutions (GfS) project, DAI Global. She possesses over sixteen years of experience in financial management and administration, including in USG financial management and reporting.  She has spent over fourteen years in the INGO sector, gaining experience in areas of financial management, sub grantee management, procurement, administration, and operations, among others.  Her previous roles include, Director of Financial Management and Operations, FHI 360, Director of Finance, University Research Co., LLC (URC) & Center for Human Services (CHS), Head of Finance and Administration, Self Help Africa.  Tawina built a foundation for her career at the Malawi College of Accountancy as a Finance Manager before moving on to head the Finance and Administration Department at Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance. She also held similar roles at the Malawi Interfaith AIDS Association (MIAA).  Tawina holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from University of Derby, ACCA member, Malawi College of Accountancy.

Will Poole is a serial entrepreneur and venture investor. He is co-founder and managing partner of Capria Ventures, a global financial services firm that partners with and invests in impact fund managers in developing markets of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Will also co-founded Unitus Ventures, India’s leading impact fund that invests in early-stage businesses innovating for the masses, specializing in the areas of ed-tech, health-tech, and financial inclusion. Focused on local innovation as well, Will is a managing director of W Fund, a Seattle-based tech and life-sciences investor affiliated with the University of Washington. Will serves on boards of Village Reach, Global Washington and blended-finance pioneer Convergence Blended Finance.

Allen is an experienced leader of positive change within complex systems across all three sectors – private, public, and social. He has had a long association with VillageReach, first as a part-time volunteer and then as president, a position in which he served as a full-time volunteer from May 2008 until July 2016. At VillageReach, he created a new strategic model for scaling and sustaining proven system solutions through large public and private sector institutions. During Allen’s eight-year tenure as president, he sourced and managed 50% year-over-year average revenue growth transforming VillageReach from a six-employee, one country operation into a 120+ employee organization operating across sub-Saharan Africa and Pakistan.