Our People

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

José María Figueres (Costa Rica) Chair

As President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998, José María Figueres led Costa Rica on a democratic path toward sustainable development and, in the process, provided a compelling example for the rest of Central America. Prior to becoming President, he served as Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Trade and Minister of Agriculture.

Dr. Andrew A. Arkutu, MB, FRCOG (Ghana)

Dr. Andrew A. Arkutu worked for Pathfinder International from 2001 through August 2006 and joined the Pathfinder Board of Directors in November 2006. He was Pathfinder's country representative in Ghana for five years and its medical director for Africa for three years. Before joining Pathfinder, Dr. Arkutu held numerous positions for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Nigeria. His last position with UNFPA was director of their Country Support Team for Southern Africa. Between his service with UNFPA and Pathfinder International, Dr. Arkutu served as special representative of the executive director of UNFPA in Eritrea and Sierra Leone. His special skills and areas of interest are sexual and reproductive health/rights and family planning, including adolescent reproductive health and HIV/AIDS, with a focus on policy formulation, review, and analysis; program design, development, and management support; training of service providers and management personnel; and program evaluation. Dr. Arkutu has been chair of the Board of Directors of the Centre for African Family Studies, a leading African and international nongovernmental organization in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights. He has been the invited guest speaker, or delivered the keynote address, at many international conferences and is the author of many books, case reports, and clinical studies.

Arne Cartridge (Norway)

Mr. Cartridge has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing & Communication Officer with Yara International ASA , the worlds leading fertilizer company, since January 2004. Previously, he held the positions of Head of Public Relations and Public Affairs with Telenor, Norway, 1996-2003; as Managing Director of the communication company Gazette, Norway, 1993-96; as marketing manager and director of communications of Digital Equipment Corp, 1986-93; public relations consultant; and journalist at Publicity AS and Informativ AS, 1985-86. Mr. Cartridge is the initiator and the executive producer of the African Green Revolution Conference, now continued in cooperation with AGRA. Mr. Cartridge is currently the Secretary General of the Yara Foundation and the driver behind the Yara Prize. He is the chairman of the board for the humanitarian organisation CARE Norway and sits on the board of CARE International. Mr. Cartridge holds a B.Sc. degree in International Politics and Middle Eastern history from the University of Bergen.

Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky (United States)

Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky served as Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs from 2001-2009. Her focus areas included foreign policy issues ranging from democracy, human rights, labor, refugee and humanitarian relief matters to environmental/science issues. In 2007, she was appointed the President's Special Envoy on Northern Ireland, service for which she received the Secretary of State's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal for her work on global issues and the peace process in Northern Ireland. Other government appointments include Associate Director for Policy and Programs at the United States Information Agency, Deputy Head of the U.S. Delegation to the 1990 Copenhagen Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Director of European and Soviet Affairs at the National Security Council, the White House. Ambassador Dobriansky also served as Senior Vice President and Director of the Washington office of the Council on Foreign Relations and was the Council's first George F. Kennan Senior Fellow on Russian and Eurasian Studies.

Shepard Forman (United States)

Director Emeritus/Senior Fellow, Center on International Cooperation, NYU, Mr. Forman is the author of numerous books and articles, and the co-editor of Good Intentions: Pledges of Aid to Countries Emerging from Conflict and Multilateralism and U.S. Foreign Policy: Ambivalent Engagement. Prior to founding the Center, Mr. Forman directed the Human Rights and Governance and International Affairs programs at the Ford Foundation.

Peter Gubbels (United States)

Having worked for nearly 20 years in West Africa on issues affecting the rural poor, Peter Gubbels now serves as the International Programs Director of World Neighbors which, for 50 years, has dedicated itself to project development and policy advocacy on issues related to poverty in the developing world. Mr. Gubbels is also the co-author of From the Roots Up: Strengthening Organizational Capacity through Guided Self-Assessment.

Reema Nanavaty (India)

During leave from her position with Indian Administrative Services, Reema Nanavaty began to work with the Self Employed Women's Association's poor women members, developing the Women, Water and Work campaign which made women central to regional water decisions. In her role as General Secretary of SEWA, Ms. Nanavaty has expanded SEWA's membership to over 700,000, making it the largest union of informal workers in India.

Richard Nordstrom (United States)

Richard is the Global Chief Executive of McCann Healthcare Worldwide. Prior to joining McCann Nordstrom served for six years with the Chicago-based Corbett Healthcare Group, started there as director of client services. Corbett merged with Accel in 2004, also part of Omnicom, to form Corbett Accel. Accounts under Nordstrom's supervision there were Merck,Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sanofi-Synthelabo and Shire Pharmaceuticals. Before Corbett, Nordstrom was in charge of customer planning at Hamilton Communications Group in Chicago. He has also worked at Klemtner Advertising in New York and Lewis Gace Bozell in Raleigh-Durham, N.C. Nordstrom started his ad career in sales and brand management at Marion Merrell Dow.

Sally Painter (United States) Treasurer/Secretary

Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Blue Star Strategies LLC, she has over 27 years' experience advising corporations, governments, NGOs and multilaterals on international investment opportunities, poverty reduction and on foreign and security policy issues. She has served as a founder of the US Committee on NATO, as Executive Director of the Business Coalition for US-China Trade -- where she helped secure passage of Permanent Normal Trade Relations for China, as a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce in the Clinton Administration, and as the Director of International at Tenneco Inc., a fortune 500 company. A number of government's have honored Painter for her work including the Minister of Defense award for her work on NATO enlargement by the Latvian government and the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit for by the Hungarian government.

Muchtar Pakpahan (Indonesian)

President of the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI), the largest independent union in Indonesia, Mr. Pakpahan was imprisoned for four years by the Suharto regime and was facing the death penalty for "subversion." Released in 1998 under intense international pressure, Mr. Pakpahan continues to be a leading voice for the labor movement and its role as the foundation for real and lasting democratic reform in Indonesia.

Iqbal Quadir (Bangladesh)

Mr. Quadir has taught at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and has worked for the World Bank, Atrium Capital, and the Evian Group. In 1997, he founded Grameen Phone, providing cellular telephone service to all of Bangladesh, including the rural poor (via service to village-based micro-enterprise). Currently working with UnoPhone to expand telephone service to Uganda's rural poor, Mr. Quadir has been selected by the World Economic Forum as a "Global Leader for Tomorrow".

Petar Stoyanov (Bulgaria)

Petar Stoyanov served as the President of the Republic of Bulgaria from 1997 to 2002, having been elected in 1996 as the candidate of the United Democratic Forces (UDF). Prior to becoming President, he served as Deputy Chairman of the UDF, a member of Bulgaria's Parliament, Chairman of the UDF legal council, and Deputy Minister of Justice during Bulgaria's first non-communist government since 1944.

John Sweeney (United States)

Mr. Sweeney is the former President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a position to which he was reelected twice since 1995. He previously served four terms as President of the Services Employees International Union (SEIU) from 1980 to 1995 and is the author of America Needs A Raise: Fighting for Economic Security and Social Justice.

Karen Tramontano (United States) Founder and President

Karen Tramontano served from 1997 to 2000 as Assistant to President Clinton on issues of labor, international trade and development, and various other foreign and domestic issues. While serving as Assistant to President Clinton, Ms. Tramontano was also the Counselor to the Chief of Staff. Ms. Tramontano is a Senior Advisor to the International Labor Organization's Director General and a Principal of Bluestar Strategies. She has also served as Chief of Staff to John Sweeney at SEIU and Chief of Staff to Washington D.C. Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly. As President of the Global Fairness Initiative, she provides leadership and vision, promoting GFI's premise that economic globalization can and should work to improve the lives of impoverished populations around the world, creating jobs and economic opportunities.

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William Jefferson Clinton (United States) Founding Chair

Bill Clinton served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001, an era in which the U.S. enjoyed more peace and prosperity than at any other time in its history. Since leaving office, Mr. Clinton has continued his work on many of the issues that defined his administration, including world trade, the economic empowerment of the poor, and the fight against AIDS around the world.

STAFF

Caleb Shreve Executive Director

Caleb is the Executive Director of the Global Fairness Initiative (GFI), an organization committed to extending economic access and opportunity to the working poor. Before joining GFI, Caleb was founder of the Tidewater Group, a Washington, DC based organization serving NGOs and foundations on the forefront of international development. During his 7 years at Tidewater Caleb worked with clients around the globe on initiatives to help vulnerable communities gain access to essential services, knowledge and financing. Prior to Tidewater, Caleb served on the White House staff of former President Clinton and on the leadership team of New York University's Wagner School of Public Service. He has also held senior positions with the Corporation for National Service, the International Broadcasting Bureau and the Democratic Presidential Campaigns of Senator John Kerry and Barack Obama. A native of Washington, DC, Caleb received degrees in Political Science and English Literature from the College of Wooster and shares his life with Jessica Bowers and their daughter Padget.

Wariko Kabuga-Waita Director of Development and Partnerships

Wariko is the Director of Development and Partnerships for GFI and has spent much of her career years focued on fundraising, finance and program management. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Biology Degree from Concordia University in Montreal Canada and was a Chevening Scholar for her MBA (Finance) at University of Leeds in the UK. She was the first African woman senior stockbroker and investment advisor on the Nairobi Stock Exchange before joining World Neighbors as Country Director for Kenya. In the US she also served as East Coast Regional Manager and Work of Women (WOW)! Coordinator with World Neighbors. She has recently returned from Tanzania where she worked as the Director of Development and Planning at Bugando Medical Centre one of four specialist referral hospitals serving a population of 13 Million people living in proximity to Lake Victoria.

Alessandra Delgado Program Manager

Prior to joining GFI, Alessandra worked at ACDI/VOCA coordinating development projects that provided technical assistance to SMEs to establish Quality Management Systems (QMS), HSSE, ISO, and general best practices. She worked with diverse projects, ranging from local supply chain development for the Oil and Gas sector in Azerbaijan to livelihood and micro-enterprise development in the tribal areas of Pakistan. At the Carter Center she researched access to information laws in Latin America to implement a law proposal in Bolivia, producing a booklet on the state of the art on international access to information laws. Alessandra has an MA in International Relations from University of Chicago where she analyzed the political engagement of the informal sector in Peru and its effects on political stability. She has further published research on informality with the Worldwatch Institute.

Míchel Andrade Central America Program Director

Prior to joining GFI, Míchel worked for the Soros Foundation Guatemala as the Deputy Director for the Access to Justice Program. Before this he served as a civilian observer for the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA). Míchel, a lawyer and native of Ecuador, graduated from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador and completed his postgraduate studies in Alternative Dispute Resolution at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá.

Aalap Shah South Asia Program Director

GFI's Regional Program Director of South Asia, Aalap Shah spent his career focusing on the livelihood and empowerment of marginalized women. Previously, Aalap contributed his efforts to business supply chains, market access, and green economies at organizations such as 108 Mala, American India Foundation's William J. Clinton Fellowship for Service, LOTUS by League of Artisans, Women's Peace Collection, and the Business Banking Board. With a desire to help female entrepreneurs, farmers, and producers with poverty-alleviation strategies, Aalap - a native of Texas - graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, studied at the University College of London and is currently residing in Brooklyn, NY training for his next triathlon.

Otto Navarro Country Representative, Guatemala

Prior joining GFI, Otto Navarro, Notary and Attorney at Law, served as Director for the Analysis and Opinion Department at the National Program of Reparations for Guatemala. Mr. Navarro has also acted as Adviser for the Legal Action Center of Human Rights as well as a consultant for the Planning Secretary of Guatemala. Other international experience includes acting consultant for the UNDP, adviser for the creation of the initiative of law of Rural Development in Guatemala and legal adviser for the Investigation Coalition of Illegal Groups and Clandestine Security Organizations in Guatemala. Mr. Navarro received his LL.M. in Constitutional Law in Guatemala and also studied International Criminal Law at Harvard University and International Protection on Human Rights in Finland. Mr. Navarro serves as an adjunct Professor of Human Rights at the Rafael Landívar University in Guatemala.

Alexandra Steinheimer GFI Fellow

Alexandra graduated from Drew University in Madison NJ in May 2008 with a BA in Women's Studies and Political Science. While at Drew, she developed a strong interest in human rights issues in the developing world. She interned at Human Rights Watch and spent a semester in New York City studying the United Nations. She hopes to pursue a career in women's rights advocacy at the international level in the future.

Ilana Cohen Program Intern

Before becoming part of the GFI team, Ilana worked for the American Jewish Congress under the National Policy Director and was a Congressional Intern on Capitol Hill. As a senior at George Washington University, Ilana is majoring in International Affairs with a double concentration in Middle Eastern and African studies. Pending acceptance, she plans to volunteer in the Peace Corps after graduation.

ADVISORS

Dr. John Audley

Senior Transatlantic Fellow, The German Marshall Fund

Dr. John Audley is a senior transatlantic fellow with the German Marshall Fund, based out of Brussels. Prior to joining GMF in 2004, Dr. Audley was senior associate and founding director of the Trade, Equity, and Development Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. There, he conducted an in-depth critique of the NAFTA trade agreement and worked behind-the-scenes to make development issues a priority in the U.S.–Central America Free Trade Agreement negotiations. From 1999 to 2001, Dr. Audley served as the trade policy coordinator at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where he was responsible for developing and presenting the EPA’s positions on U.S. trade policy. He has also worked at the National Wildlife Federation and has taught at Georgetown University, Purdue University, and the University of Maryland.

Steven Bennett

Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, The Brookings Institution

Steven J. Bennett is vice president and chief operating officer of Brookings. In this role, Mr. Bennett supervises the interaction between and among the Institution's research programs, and between the research and non-research sides of Brookings, promoting collaboration and interdisciplinary work. He also oversees human resources, information technology, building operations and security, conference services and the Brookings library. He received his bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and a Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University. Prior to coming to Brookings in 2006, Bennett served as executive director for several nongovernmental organizations focusing on the nexus of trade and development. Most recently, he served as co-founder and executive director of the Global Fairness Initiative, an international leadership forum that drives globalization’s benefits to marginal and impoverished populations by advancing innovative models of economic engagement. At GFI, Bennett grew the organization into a healthy and stable NGO, and oversaw successful engagement processes in 13 countries on 4 continents. At GFI, Bennett also co-founded the Synapse Market Access Fund, a social venture financing tool designed to bridge the gaps between poor producers and markets and between micro-credit and commercial loans. From 1996-2003, Bennett served as executive director of Witness for Peace, where he directed all development and program work of an international program designed to educate U.S. citizens and lawmakers on the social and environmental impacts of bilateral and multilateral economic policies toward Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to that, he served as interim executive director and program director for National Neighbors, promoting growth and opportunity for poverty impacted urban neighborhoods. He has also served as an associate at the Center for National Policy. He has published in various periodicals on a range of subjects related to trade and development. .

Melissa Shackleton Dann

President, Endurance Consulting

Melissa Shackleton Dann is the President of Endurance Consulting, specializing in strategically positioning organizations in the context of today's global environmental challenges. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the Wallace Global Fund, a foundation based in Washington, DC. She was with the foundation for over a decade and served as program officer for environmental issues prior to heading the Fund. Earlier, Ms. Dann directed the biodiversity and training programs for the US-Asia Environmental Partnership, a $100 million dollar Presidential Initiative. Prior to this, she served as interim executive director of a small Washington-based NGO, WorldWide Network that focused on women and environmental issues leading up to the Rio Summit. She was at World Wildlife Fund-US for four years as special assistant to the President. Melissa currently chairs the board of Fauna & Flora International, Inc. and serves on the board of another conservation group, RARE. Prior board commitments include the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity, an affinity group of 55 private foundations, and The Forest Stewardship Council Global Trust Fund. She is a Fellow with the London-based Royal Geographic Society. Ms. Dann holds a master's degree in political economy from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in political science and French from Denison University. She lives with her husband, Tom, and their four children in Chevy Chase, MD.

Susan Davis

External Senior Advisor to the Director General of the International Labour Organization

Susan is a consultant to Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, serving as its first Director for the Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship. Susan is also an International Board Representative for Ashoka's global selection panels. She helped to found and now chairs the board of the Grameen Foundation USA. She also serves on the boards of Project Enterprise and Aid to Artisans. Susan was the Executive Director of a global women's advocacy organization that pioneered new mechanisms for the global women's movement to influence negotiations at global United Nations meetings from 1993-1998. Prior to that, she led innovative initiatives aimed at scaling up microfinance institutions that were owned and governed by poor women at Women's World Banking and the Ford Foundation in Bangladesh. During her four and half years in Dhaka, she helped to start Ashoka in Bangladesh and served as its first volunteer representative. Susan served as the Assistant Director of the first quasi-public export trading company launched in the 1980s by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Susan was educated at Georgetown, Harvard and Oxford universities and is from Louisiana.

Nancy A. Donaldson

Director, ILO Washington Office

Ms. Donaldson was appointed Director in January, 2010. She has advised governments, non-profits, labor unions and corporations on government and public affairs for 25 years. Prior to her appointment, Nancy was a Vice President at Dutko Global Advisors advising corporations, governments and NGOs. While at Dutko, she also served as an advisor to the ILO Washington office on U.S. policy work with core labor standards and the decent work agenda since 2005. From 1997 to 2005 she was a Vice President consulting on energy, education, technology, trade and international issues at The Downey McGrath Group. Earlier in her career, she worked for AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern as Director of Legislation at SEIU. During her career, Nancy has also specialized in public interest and coalition advocacy. Earlier in her career, she was the Washington Office Director for Women's Action for a New Direction (WAND) and a lawyer in private practice. Ms. Donaldson has served on many NGO Boards including Women in International Security (WIIS), Coalition on Human Needs, Center for Policy Alternatives and most recently World Neighbors, Peace PAC and the Holdeen India Fund. Born in Lubbock, Texas Ms. Donaldson holds a B.A. in communications from Baldwin Wallace College and a J.D. from Emory University Law School. She is married and has two teenage daughters.

Andrew Evans

Freelance Writer, Development Specialist

Mr. Evans has over 10 years on-the-ground experience in Ukraine, having lectured and published extensively on the country. He has worked at NATO as a political analyst, as a consultant at the Fund for Peace and the Aspen Institute, and as a freelance writer. Mr. Evans holds a master's degree in Russian studies from Oxford University and speaks both Russian and Ukrainian.

H.E. Roland Eng

Ambassador-at-Large and Advisor to the Royal Government of Cambodia

Ambassador Roland Eng of the Kingdom of Cambodia, joined King Norodom Sihanouk, then in exile, in 1979 in France to spearhead the Royalist cause during the Khmer Rouge regime. He later volunteered at the refugee camps along the Cambodian-Thai border before becoming a freedom fighter with the Royalist forces inside Cambodia. Ambassador Eng worked closely with the UN under the UNTAC operation and, in 1993, was elected to the National Assembly as MP for Kampot province. He was later appointed as Minister of Tourism and then as the first Ambassador to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore upon restoration of diplomatic ties since the end of the country's civil war. The Royal Cambodian ambassador to Washington from 1999 to 2004, Ambassador Eng is currently Cambodia's Ambassador-at-Large and Advisor to the Royal Government of Cambodia.

Henrik Alexander Lund

Chief-of-Staff - Concordia21

Henrik Lund is currently the Chief-of-Staff at Concordia 21, a social investment vehicle dedicated to supporting organizations which promote development and democratic values around the world. In addition to his role at Concordia21, Henrik is the chief-of-staff for José María Figueres, former President of Costa Rica. Prior to joining Concordia21, Mr. Lund worked at the Club of Madrid in the development, organisation and follow-up of the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security held in 2005. He has also worked as a consultant for the Norwegian shipbuilder Bergen Yards. Previously, Henrik Lund had been a researcher in counter-terrorism and European security policy at the Spanish think tank FRIDE and researcher for a Member of Parliament at the House of Commons in the UK. He holds a BA from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a Masters degree in European Politics from the London School of Economics.

Kathy Sreedhar

Founding Director of the Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Program

Kathy is the founding Director of the Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Program, a grant-making foundation which works with organizations in India that promote long term changes in power relationships, allocation of resources and unjust social conditions. The foundation focuses on organizations of people marginalized on the basis of gender, caste, ethnicity, sexual orientation or economic exploitation, especially landless, bonded, migrant laborers and home-based and domestic workers. UU-HIP provides long-term financial, advocacy, networking and other support the groups require to strengthen their organizations and advance their issues. Since 1962, Ms. Sreedhar has worked in both India and the United States for development, advocacy and government organizations and serves on the Boards of funding, international fellowship and community organizations. She has contributed articles to several books and journals on India's social development and grassroots movements.

Zohreh Tabatabai

Director of Communication and Public Information, International Labour Organization

Zohreh is the Director of Communication and Public Information at the International Labour Organization, the Geneva-based UN agency that promotes rights at work, encourages decent employment opportunities, enhances social protection and strengthens dialogue in handling work-related issues. As a member of the ILO's senior staff, Ms. Tabatabai has expanded the department's mandate and has developed new strategies and tools for raising global awareness of the organization's work. She supervises 85 staffers who are engaged in media relations, issue campaigns, publications, web activities and library services. Prior to her appointment at the ILO, Ms. Tabatabai spent 20 years at the United Nations in New York, most recently as Focal Point for Women and previously as the Coordinator of the UN's Fiftieth Anniversary and Chief of the UN's Public Services Section. Before arriving at the UN in 1980, Ms. Tabatabai served nearly 10 years as a diplomat in the Foreign Ministry of Iran.

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