About Us: Staff
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Dennis Whittle - Chairman and CEO
Dennis Whittle is Chairman and CEO of GlobalGiving, which he co-founded in late 2000 after a career in the official aid sector. From 1997 to 2000, Dennis was part of a troika that led the World Bank's Corporate Strategy and Innovation units, where he co-led the team that created the Development Marketplace. From 1992-1997, he led a variety of initiatives in the Bank's Russia program, including housing reform and energy efficiency projects. From 1987-92, Dennis was an economist in the World Bank's Jakarta office advising the Indonesian Ministries of Finance and National Development, and managing projects in the agriculture and forestry sectors. Before joining the World Bank in 1986, Dennis worked in the Philippines with the Asian Development Bank and with USAID. Dennis graduated with honors in religious studies from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar, and did his graduate work in development studies and economics at Princeton University. Dennis also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
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Mari Kuraishi - President, GlobalGiving Foundation
Mari joined the World Bank in 1992 where she managed and created some of the Bank's most innovative projects. Along with GlobalGiving co-founder Dennis Whittle and their teams, Mari organized the first series of strategic forums with the World Bank's president and senior management, and the first ever Innovation and Development Marketplaces. She also designed a range of investment projects in the Russia reform program, including a large-scale residential energy efficiency project, structural adjustment loans, and the World Bank's first legal reform project. In addition to her native Japanese, Mari also speaks Russian, German, Italian, and French. She has an undergraduate degree in history from Harvard University and did graduate work in Russian and Japanese history and politics at Harvard and Georgetown Universities. Mari also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
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Donna Callejon - Chief Operating Officer
As COO, Donna oversees all strategies related to attracting, retaining and serving GlobalGiving's community of donors. This includes marketing, business and partner development, and development of technology and infrastructure for globalgiving.com and over a dozen custom websites. Donna also serves as the Board Chair of the Washington Area Women's Foundation and previously served for six years on the board of Business for Social Responsibility. In a prior life, Donna was a senior executive and member of the Operating Committee of Fannie Mae, a Fortune 50 company. From 1996-2000, she oversaw the company's strategic planning, business development and international consulting efforts, and prior to 1996 led the $1.2 billion annual net income core purchase and securitization business, including marketing, product development, customer technology and negotiated transactions. She holds a B.S. in Managerial Economics from UC Davis.
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Kevin Conroy - Senior Java Web Developer
Kevin works on improving and developing new features of GlobalGiving's technical infrastructure and enhancing the user experience on www.globalgiving.com. Previously, Kevin was a Senior User Interface Designer and Software Engineer for Hillcrest Labs where he designed award-winning, next-generation television user interfaces. He also worked as a Researcher in the Accenture Technology Labs where he developed new tools and techniques for software engineering, collaborative development, and service oriented architecture. Kevin graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a B.S. in Computer Science with Honors and a B.A. in Economics.
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Duane Gross - Office Manager
Duane is a native of the Washington D.C. area having lived as far away as Waldorf, MD to Reston, VA, where he graduated from South Lakes High School. Duane has an extensive background in retail management (Original Levi's Store, Speedo, Up Against the Wall, Aldo Shoes), which has given him the tools to be the best in organizing and leading. He's also worked as a Leasing Consultant with Storage U.S.A, and Office Manager for Citrix Systems Inc. Duane's hobbies include: planning family events (his holiday dinners are excellent), spending time with family and loved ones, working out, swimming, book collecting, cooking, and shopping. Duane is the oldest of 5 brothers and sisters and many younger cousins. Duane plans to enroll at a local university to study to become a group and family counselor and also explore the area of culinary arts.
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John Hecklinger - Business Development Director
John establishes partnerships that increase the flow of donors and contributions to GlobalGiving projects. Before coming to GlobalGiving, John worked as Director of Data Acquisition for CARFAX Vehicle History Reports. Under John's leadership, CARFAX compiled over 4 billion vehicle records from over 7,000 data partners, making CARFAX reports an essential resource for consumers and businesses. John served as a US Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic, where he taught Literature and Linguistics at the University of Bangui. He holds a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Virginia and an MA in English Language and Literature from the University of Florida.
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Allison Koch - Director of Strategic Partnerships
Allison's early work experience was managing international sales and marketing for both Ryka, a women's athletic shoe company, and Mossimo, a men's sportswear brand. Later she became Director of Marketing for Netflix, an online DVD rental service. Netflix went public in 2000, is profitable and is projecting $1 billion in revenues by 2006. Allison helped Netflix grow from a little-known niche player in 1997 to a mainstream, successful service by forging strategic partnerships with both movie studios and consumer electronics manufacturers, employing viral marketing techniques, and later, through print and television advertising. Following Netflix, Allison was a lead strategist for Stone Yamashita Partners, one of the country's leading strategy and communications firms. While there, Allison led engagements with the senior leadership teams of eBay, Hewlett-Packard, Nike, PBS, and others.
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James Krejci - Chief Financial Officer
James is a seasoned CFO with experience in both Fortune 500 and entrepreneurial businesses across Europe, the US, and the emerging markets of eastern Europe and Asia. James has extensive experience in the architecture of firms, raising debt and equity, and building international alliances. With Burson-Marsteller, a consulting division of the WPP Group (WPPGY), James led finance and operations for the Emerging Markets Group and was instrumental in growing the division by 300% in 3 years. James also held the position of CFO with TV3 Russia. James holds an MBA in Finance from the American School of International Management - Thunderbird.
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Dana Ledyard - Senior Program Associate
Dana works to establish and maintain GlobalGiving's relationship with social entrepreneurs. Dana graduated from the University of North Carolina as a Morehead Scholar with a degree in Economics, and previously worked in health economics research. While at UNC Dana spent time conducting a senior thesis on HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, studying abroad in Madagascar, and working as a summer intern for GlobalGiving in South Africa.
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Manmeet Mehta - Program Officer
Manmeet Mehta is responsible for GlobalGiving's open access initiative and increasing the presence of youth social entrepreneurs on GlobalGiving. She also works to provide support to social entrepreneurs on the site. Previously, she worked as a Program Development Manager at the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation designing and implementing a heritage conservation project in India and as a Sales and Marketing Associate for IHCL, a Tata group company. She's worked with Ashoka: Innovators for the Public and is on the board of Atlas Service Corps. Manmeet grew up as a nomad in India, and is always planning the next big trip. She holds an MA in International Relations from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. She also holds an MBA from Symbiosis Institute of International Business, India and a BA in Economics from LSR College, Delhi University, India.
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Sombit Mishra - eCommerce Analyst
Sombit manages web analytics and optimization for GlobalGiving, and is responsible for improving the donor experience on www.globalgiving.com and cobranded partner sites. Before joining the team, Sombit completed his Masters in International Relations at the London School of Economics and his Bachelors in Economics and History at Northwestern University. As an undergraduate, Sombit interned for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, where he handled foreign affairs and immigration cases for constituents across New York State.
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Joan Ochi - Director of Marketing Communications
Joan is responsible for development and execution of GlobalGiving's marketing strategies. Previously, she worked at Fannie Mae where she led a team of marketing and communications professionals supporting Fannie Mae's mission to increase homeownership rates, particularly amongst minority and underserved populations. This included strategic marketing planning, collateral creation, internal and external communications, web marketing, and launching of products and initiatives. Prior to that, she worked as a marketing consultant for an advertising agency, Publicis Graphics, in the Middle East, and spent nine years in finance and marketing at HP, both in the U.S. and Europe. Joan has an MBA from Columbia University and an BA in Economics from UC Berkeley.
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Steve Rogers - Director of Engineering
Steve is responsible for the Information Systems, Product Development and engineering processes at GlobalGiving. Prior to joining GlobalGiving, Steve successfully led the engineering team of a web-based software product company from conception, through initial product launch, and several product versions. Steve holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, and has wide ranging computer experience, including mainframe, client-server, and web-based service-oriented expertise. He has worked in diverse industries such as banking, insurance, and real-estate.
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Wylia Sims - Director of Development Finance
Wylia has over ten years experience working in nonprofit organizations including corporate and private foundations, as well as serving as a board member for a community social services agency. She began her career as an assistant to Vernon Jordan, Jr. at the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld and then worked in the Executive Office at the Fannie Mae Foundation. In New York, she worked in the Chairman's office of Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Institute and was the Director of Finance & Operations at The Nation Institute. Wylia co-founded The Cause Group, a consulting firm that assists celebrities and athletes in their philanthropic efforts. Before moving back to DC, Wylia returned to Soros Fund Management as a project consultant. Wylia received a BBA from Howard University and a MS in Nonprofit Management from The Milano Graduate School of Management at New School University.
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Saima Zaman - Program Officer
Saima is responsible for managing the general catalog of projects on GlobalGiving — ensuring quality, diversity, and fit with donor's interests. Previously, Saima worked at World Resources Institute for four years, and was a part of their fundraising efforts pertaining to bilateral and multilateral donors. She also worked in Islamabad, Pakistan with the Leadership for Environment and Development-Pakistan program (LEAD-Pakistan) where she worked on creating communications materials, managing the research paper series and working with LEAD Fellows on training and career development. Saima has a master's in public policy with a focus on public/private sector management from The George Washington University and a BA from Bryn Mawr College. She speaks Pushto, Urdu, English and French.
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