Mission/Overview
Background
 Our
People
-
Program
Staff
- Board
of Directors
- Advisory
Board
-
Research
Fellows
- Global
Trustees
Core Perspectives
Words from our
Founder
EW Structure
& Culture
Funding
Opportunities
Spending
/Development
Guiding Principles
Frequently
Asked Questions
|
| PROGRAM
STAFF
& CORE VOLUNTEERS
Melanie
St.James, MPA
Executive Director & Global Program Officer
Melanie
is a full-time Social Entrepreneur and the Executive Director
of Empowerment Works. Her passion to promote a sustainable
world began at 20 with a semester in mainland China
where she saw population (then
5.6 billion, now 6,706,993,152 *July 2008 est. - CIA fact
book) vs. increasing consumption as the most
pressing security challenge facing humanity. She has dedicated
her life since to addressing root causes and developing
systemic solutions.
In
1999, Melanie's
field research in Human
Security and Population took her into separatist conflict
regions of West Africa where her experience with
culturally-rich communities
underscored the need for collaborative, locally-led, solutions.
Putting this theory into practice, Melanie founded
EW in 2001, along with EW's first community-based programs-
in Senegal and Zimbabwe.
As
Executive Director of Empowerment Works, Melanie oversees
programs, innovates educational workshops and presents
publicly at diverse environmental and social forums. A
few highlights include the 2006 International AIDS Conference
in Toronto, the 2004 Sustainable Resources Conference
in Boulder; Chairing/ Moderating the 5th International
Symposium on Digital Earth, 2008 Global Sound Conference,
+. In 2006 Melanie co-founded the Coalition for a Sustainable Africa (CSA), for which she serves as Director of Capacity Building.
Returning to China in Fall 2009, this time to teach as a founding facilitator of the World Academy for the Future of Women (WAFW), Melanie delivered EW's 7 Stages to Sustainability (7SS), which is now the official community development curriculum of the ongoing women's leadership program.
Following
her father's footsteps as a green inventor in the private sector, in 2002 Melanie founded,
and continues to develop- BioNova™ Medical Corporation,
a medicinal plant based intellectual property management
firm, reinvesting indigenous knowledge to conserve bio-diversity.
Melanie
holds a Masters of Public Administration in International
Management from the Monterey Institute of International
Studies’ Graduate School of International Policy Studies,
and a BA in International Relations and Diplomacy from
Schiller International University in Madrid, Spain. Her
training in Transformative Mediation and International
Negotiations has contributed to EW's multi-sector collaboration
model. Fluent in French and Spanish, Ms. St.James has
lived and conducted research throughout Asia, Europe,
Africa and Central America. Melanie resides in Venice
Beach, California with her dog, Jackson, is committed
to driving as little, and eating as much of a Vegan
diet as possible - as the reduction of meat related Methane
is pivotal to climate change.
Top...
Courtney
White, LCSW
Community Liaison
Courtney
has been working in the world of non-profits and
government organizations since 1996.
While earning her Masters
in Social Work through UCLA,
Courtney lived, studied, and worked in Durban,
South Africa. Looking at the epidemic of HIV,
Courtney worked with the University of Natal,
the Jane Goodall Institute, Sinikithema Clinic,
and McCord Hospital to develop holistic approaches
in prevention with teens, income generating projects
with mothers, and organizational development with
institutions.
Courtney also has experience working with African
communities in London, England through the British
Red Cross Refugee Unit and the Family Resource
Team of the Borough of Southwark. Courtney currently
conducts research and provides direct mental health
services to the homeless population through the
US Department of Veteran Affairs in Los Angeles.
In
addition to her demanding social work career,
Courtney plays a quintessential role in managing
EW interns for global programs as well as co-creating
EW Artists In Action Events
in Los Angeles.
Abagail
Fritz
West African Region & US Cultural Programs
Director
Abagail
has a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Studies, a
Minor in Small Business Management, and a great
passion for African dance. Her first visit to
Africa through NGO, Cross Cultural Solutions,
Abagail worked as a volunteer teacher at the age
of 20. Inspired by her experiences with driven
students in an education system of 3rd world conditions,
Abagail returned to Chicago, IL to finish a degree
in Cultural Studies, a practice that evaluates
and identifies power structures within different
societal demographics. She applied her studies
to dance cultures to better understand how dance
plays a role in social change. She interned with
dance education non-profit, The Chicago Human
Rhythm Project, while finishing her undergrad
in 2008. Here she developed her management skills
at the grass-roots level, helping to develop fundraising,
scholarship, and marketing programs.
A
Rocky Mountain native, Abagail returned home to
Colorado for six months in 2008 to work with eco-traveling
company, Explore Africa, where she was introduced
to the environmental as well as social and cultural
benefits of eco-educational tourism in Africa.
Three years after her first visit to Ghana, Abagail
returned for her third visit to Africa to study
traditional dance with master teachers from Guinea-Conakry
in 2009.
Now
living in San Francisco, CA, she will attend the
San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking in
October, 2009 to prepare for the documentation
of EW's cultural focused sustainable development
initiatives in Guinea-Conakry, and other West
African countries for 2010.
Marie
Stojimirovic, MS
Collaboration Research & Evaluation Director
Recently
graduated with a Master’s degree in Sociology from
the University of Rouen in France, Marie won a full
scholarship to come to the US and serve as a full-time
intern with EW. Her creative brilliance designing
the Partners In Empowerment international survey and
evaluation will not only advance EW's global impact
but the social science of multi-sector collaboration.
To further support data analysis and monitor long
term success of 1pie.org (multi-sector collaboration
portal) upon her return to France, Marie will remain
on EW’s global team as an honored EW Research Fellow.
Marie’s own words describe her best: “I contacted
Empowerment Works because I am very interested by
international solidarity and holistic approach and
thinking that the economy should totally be embedded
in the society instead of controlling it!
Moreover, I feel very concerned by the different types
of domination which still persist at every level of
our world (between social classes, “races”, countries,
sexes, etc.) and are especially materialized in our
economic system.
That’s why I plan to get a PhD in sociology to analyse
and understand the different practices in sustainable
development and explain what’s working or not and
why.
Like
EW, I believe that educational institutions and researchers
have a role to play in social change because they
have the skills and the knowledge to understand and
explain the reality. Building partnerships between
international institutions could be very effective
to have a global and accurate view of populations’
needs and programs' results. To build these precious
partnerships and organize different research programs,
I will collaborate with EW and do my best to contribute
to this process.”
Top...
Stefan
Cibian
Global Policy Research Director
Stefan
is currently a PhD Candidate at Central European University,
Department of International Relations and European
Studies. He holds a BA in Political Science (Babes-Bolyai
University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania), a BA in Law (1st
of December University, Alba Iulia, Romania) as well
as an MA in Public Policy (Central European University,
Budapest, Hungary).
Stefan works on international relations theory and
development policy.
Stefan's PhD thesis focuses on the expansion of Western
forms of societal organization to non-Western areas
with a specific focus on the relevance of development
aid for international relations. Previously Stefan
has worked with several youth/student organizations.
He enjoys working on community development and building
up international networks.
Top...
Jeff
Buderer
Sustainable Development &
Appropriate Technologies Strategist
Jeff's
current research areas include information technology,
sustainable agriculture, renewable energy and eco-building
practices as part of an integrated, assets-based (“Holistic
Village”) approach to sustainable development. Jeff's
multi-faceted support of EW includes creation and
editing The Inspired Citizen blog, managing various
aspects of web communications, facilitating global
partnerships, programs and serving as co-Chair of
the Digital Village committee and membership on The
Global Summit strategy team.
Jeff
Buderer received his degree in political science at
Missouri State University in 1999 where he researched
Arcosanti – a futuristic prototype for urban sustainable
development located in the desert of Arizona. Once
graduating, he moved to Arizona and joined Arcosanti
as Construction Crew Chief and trained participants
how to apply sustainable development theories and
tools on the job site. While there, he enrolled in
the first total immersion course on Ecological Design
offered by Ecosa Institute -one of the few courses
of its kind. This four month course gave him a comprehensive
view of Ecological Design. Thereafter, in the Paradox
III Conference, which featured an eclectic mix of
digital visionaries, utopians, technologists, architects,
communitarians, and sustainability experts, Jeff saw
the convergence of Information Technologies in support
of the rapid adaptation of sustainable technologies.
Putting
his passion for the Digital Village into action, Jeff
serves as oneVillage
Foundation's operations and program director.
Top...
Julia
Kunzekwenyika
EW Zimbabwe Program Director
Julia is an African born & raised social entrepreneur,
business-woman, artist and mother who has dedicated
years to empowering hundreds of people out of poverty.
With minimal outside support, she has paid orphan
school fees, purchased uniforms, set up a community
library and helped widows become self sufficient
by empowering them to make crafts which she would
sell at local markets. Julia began to set herself
apart as a social entrepreneur when her sick Aunt
(with brain seizures) was shunned by
her
relatives because of their cultural superstitions.
Against the demands of her entire family,
Julia sold tomatoes on the street corner to pay
the medical bills and nursed her terminally ill
Aunt until she passed away in dignity. Julia
and her brother Tapiwa started T&J Painted Fabrics
as a craft project which has successfully expanded
with training and employment of over 10 members.
T & J Batiks are sold locally at the Zimbabwe
National Art Gallery and are beginning to make a
name internationally with retailers such as the
American Smithsonian Museum Store.
Over the past 20 years this In addition to helping
her community, Julia has managed to send 3 of her
4 kids to college. One daughter recently graduated
from medical school. *EW’s founder, Melanie St.James
had developed a relationship with Julia for 2 years
prior to launching Empowerment Works AIDS relief
& Orphan Care projects in Zimbabwe.
Top...
Tobias
Sturmer, MA
EW Music - Ethnomusicology Artistic
Director
Tobias Sturmer is an ethnomusicologist, producer,
social entrepreneur, musician, composer and educator
living in London, UK and Cologne, Germany. Originally
from Germany, he has lived in Dominican Republic,
USA, Senegal and Venezuela, studying music and culture,
teaching and performing.
Since
arriving in London in 1998, he has acquired an MA
in Ethnomusicology at the School of Oriental and
African Studies, London University. He performs
professionally on the London Jazz, Latin and African
music scene as well as on the contemporary dance
scene. T.S. has been running a non-profit
artist support scheme in Senegal and Uganda since
2002. The aim of his work has been to 1) encourage
cultural and economic development of African communities
by providing African musicians with tools for self-reliance,
and 2) to document and to enhance the cultural heritage
of musical traditions in Africa. In the course
of the project T.S. has supported more than 20 bands
in Casamance/Senegal and Luwero/Uganda.
Mr. Sturmer lived one year in Casamance, Senegal
learning about Diola music and culture. He initiated
a charitable recording project in the Casamance
region, which has now become
EW-Music, with its first Album, Music of the
Diola, Vol. 1, released in Dec. 2007!
Top...
Ariel
Kraten
Development
Assistant & Suriname
Program Facilitator
Ariel recently returned from serving in the US Peace
Corps in 2006 after spending two years in Suriname,
South America. While living in a remote Amazon
village, learning a new language and culture, Ariel
helped to install her village's first running water
system and coordinated numerous AIDS benefit events
and community projects. Ariel earned
both a BA in Classics & Religion and a BS in
Photojournalism at Boston University, where she
was awarded a full-tuition scholarship and was a
member of their highly competitive NCAA Division
I rowing team. Ariel
has a passion for international humanitarian work
and she has interned for the Nobel-Prize winning
organization Physicians for Human Rights in the
communications department. She has also won
awards for both her writing and photography. While
putting these skills to use as EW's Part-Time Development
Coordinator, she is also pursuing her MS in Non-profit
Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania,
increasing her skill base as well as EW's access
to new developments in the Not-for-Profit business
world.
Lindsay
Gatz
Graphic Designer of Event
Promotions & Print
Principal
of Von Rocko
Design Lindsay has created much of EW's creative
content.
Top...
BOARD
OF DIRECTORS
Dana
Arak,
Atty
Chair
of Board & Artists in Action Events
Dana
is a multi-talented attorney, human rights activist,
author and founding partner of BlueGreenStar Studios
which provides sustainable solutions for creative
media - leading the way in evolving Hollywood towards
social responsibility. In addition to specializing
in trademark law, she dedicated her time to helping
launch new green businesses. Her entry point to EW
came with her efforts to develop a project in Cambodia
promoting sustainable food production to fund local
education, complimented by eco-tourism project honoring
local culture.
Holly
Mosher
Public
Advocacy Chair
A
serial award-winning Filmmaker
for Change, Holly Mosher grew up in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. In high school she developed a passion
for both photography and philosophy that led her to
pursue filmmaking. In her college entrance paper,
she cited George Orwell’s idea that all art should
be political, and today, uses that concept to guide
her work.
Holly
graduated with honors from New York University's Tisch
School of the Arts. After graduating, she spent two
years in Brazil working as an assistant picture and
sound editor on four feature films, including the
Oscar nominated films O QUATRILHO, TIETA, and PEQUENO
DICIONARIO AMOROSO. Now having executive produced
many of her own masterpieces including, HUMMINGBIRD,
FREE FOR ALL!, and THE VANISHING OF THE BEES, Holly
is now in production on her second directorial project,
BONSAI,
where she is following the work of the Nobel Peace
Prize winning Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank.
Holly is also a co-founder of Be Well Media, a non-profit
which aims to create films and other entertainment
that inspire people to take their health into their
own hands.
Stephan
McGuire
Perma-culture
& Partnerships Chair
Stephan
is President and Founder of Coalition
for a Sustainable Africa. CSAfrica is an international
coalition, of non-profit organizations offering sustainable
solutions for grass-roots initiatives to empower the
people and communities of Africa.
For
almost 11 years, Stephan has been a Producer with
Tree Media Group
through which he co-produced The 11th Hour documentary,
narrated and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio. Stephan
is committed to The 11th Hr film becoming a movement.
This year he founded GreenTownACTION!, an American
program documenting on-the-ground sustainable action
in a ‘green’ YouTube’ type web portal to be launched
in the autumn of 2009. In April, 2009, Stephan was
awarded Green Dot Award’s “Visionary of the Year”
by a distinguished international jury. Additional
projects & clients include Woody Harrelson's Voice
Yourself in 2003, 11th Hour Action campaign, web-portals
for Global Green USA, the Official 2000 Presidential
Campaign Library for the Council on Foreign Relations,
and California's Heal the Bay.
Bringing 11th Hour Action to Africa, Stephan has become
the Executive Director of GAWA,
(Green Awareness Africa) in Namibia, southern Africa,
where he is implementing officially mandated sustainability
programs with the Namibian American Embassy, the Prime
Minister and President, and large African corporations
who are taking the lead in environmental awareness
and action. Perhaps
at the root of these actions, Stephan has studied
sustainable, earth-restorative farming and living
practices called "Permaculture"
on the island of Hawaii in 2001-2002 and in Costa
Rica 2003-2004, where he became a certified Permaculture
Teacher. Permaculture techniques focus on making our
communities healthy, culturally rich, and self-reliant
models of integrated living. He attended colleges
and universities in Boston, San Francisco and Los
Angeles.
Stephan
is now in pre-production on a documentary called "Losing
My Religion", which documents Jehovah's Witnesses
as they leave and find their way in the world. In
June, 2009, he formed his own film production company
called Hungry Creature Presents and begins production
in January 2010.
Rick
Pinckert
Communications
Chair
An
Information Technologies expert with a strong cultural
background Rick guides the Digital Village committee
of The Global Summit. Rick's day job is Network Administrator
at the USC Annenberg School for Communication where
he manages the distance Learning technical program,
Video Conferencing and decision-making role in evaluating
new technology for internet content sharing for faculty
and students. Previously, he served as Director of
Technical Services at USC's Advanced Bioinformatics
and Biotechnology Center, where he directed and supervised
IT technical support teams. Influenced by his aunt
the world-famous psychic Jean Dixon he began what
was to become a long history of research into alternative
healing and metaphysics including studying with Yogi
Bhajan 1970, the Yuen Method of Chinese Energetic
Medicine and advanced courses in Meditation and Healing
with the Southern California Psychic Institute. As
Executive Producer he is premiering "Stellar
Transformation"; a TV show about how people can
transform themselves with alternative healing arts.
As an active member of the LA grassroots cultural
community, he has been involved in various productions
including the Program Director for a Four Star Records
project, "Little Elmo" that initiated neighborhood
children's theatre projects with performances at The
Los Angeles Garden Theatre Festival.
Susan
Daya Hamwi,
Atty
Legal
Chair & Director of Mediation
Daya
became a lawyer at the tender age of 23. However,
during 13 of her 18 years in legal practice, she has
been working as a mediator and has been a dedicated
advocate for indigenous peoples rights. She is now
serving as Legal Adviser and Counsel at Settlement
Works, a center for dynamic family resolution.
Susan holds a Juris Doctorate Degree from Loyola Law
School and a Bachelor of Arts, Law and Society from
the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has
been a member of the State Bar of California since
1989 and completed the LA County Bar Association's
mediation training program in 2001. Susan lives with
her seven year old son, also near the water, in Venice,
California.
Adam
Krim
Marketing
Chair
Adam
Krim brings to EW a rich background in both marketing
and finance. After graduating from the Wharton School
of Business and serving at Deloitte Consulting in
SF, he moved to LA in late 1999 where he began launching
startups. He joined Business.com when they shifted
to the cost per click model. After excelling there
for 18 months, he left to start a liquor company Progressive
Brands, helping to raise $3M and building their main
brand – HAN. Adam currently serves as Director of
Business Development at Affiliate Fuel, owned by Experian.
While his corporate job keeps his high tech marketing
skills on the leading edge, Adam's long term passion
project is “The
Confluence Group” a revolutionary online and offline
social network based marketing firm, and EW Partner
In Empowerment!
Top...
|
Advisory
Board
Pamela
Millar
Private
Public Partnerships
/TGS Co-Chair,
1PIE Portal
At
the nexus of Sun Microsystems’ role in creating Open
Standards for Globalization, Pamela is now leading EW's
strategy to globalize sustainability, starting with
six key sectors of PIE (Partners in Empowerment).
Principal of Bridgemakers
Consulting, Pamela Millar has entrepreneur in her
bloodstream, having spent the past twenty years launching
computer software and hardware companies into the global
market. She has her MBA in international management
and some of the biggest names in information technology
companies in the world have been her clients, including
Pixar, Compaq, Netscape and Sun Microsystems. Pamela
helped optimize market positioning for innovative software
companies around the world, including Dynaware, Pastel
Development, Pixar Corporation, No Hands Software, Kensington
Microware and others. Her range of experience includes
both inbound and outbound marketing, from market development
planning to product advertising and messaging worldwide.
She is fluent in French and Spanish, speaks some Mandarin
Chinese, and has lived and worked in France, Belgium,
Mexico and Taiwan.
Leading development of EW's 1PIE Portal, Pamela brings
experience as senior global product strategist for Sun
Microsystems for seven years, co-chairing the steering
committee which determined the worldwide strategy for
the company's software portfolio and chairing a group
of product marketing directors across the company. Many
of her responsibilities included customer needs analysis,
competitive and market segment analysis, product requirements
definition and global marketing strategy. In partnership
with the global engineering team at Sun, Pamela contributed
over one million lines of source code to the open source
community, including the entire multilingual architecture
for the Solaris Operating System. Since leaving Sun,
Pamela has been guiding and stewarding new entrepreneurial
companies such as Green Technology Institute, TEKIO,
the Romero Institute, Earth Networks Television and
Justsystems Corporation.
In her spare time, Pamela has also been active social
entrepreneur. She rode her bicycle across the United
States to raise money for Mobility International, an
organization which helps people with disabilities travel
internationally. Still committed to this cause, Pamela
helped form the Accessibility initiative at Sun Microsystems,
ensuring equal access for people with disabilities to
the latest internet technology across the suite of Sun's
products.
Pamela co-authored a book of Buddhist spiritual teachings,
which is now selling worldwide in 23 languages. Her
contacts with readers around the world sensitized her
to the living conditions of impoverished communities
worldwide. With a rash of natural disasters in many
areas of the world in the 1990's, Pamela helped organize
numerous flood relief efforts in the US, Latin America
and Europe. She is also a field reporter for a satellite
television station broadcasting only positive and inspirational
programming around the world.
Top...
Jenny
Huang,
MS
Chief Technology Advisor
Jenny
Huang specializes in advanced software architecture
design and agile software development processes with
the aim to enhance organization productivity and align
IT solutions with business objectives. As a senior Technology
Consultant at a major global communication service provider,
Jenny is responsible for the research and development
of industry standards for next generation operations
support systems. In this capacity, she also serves as
co-chair for both the Service Delivery Framework program
at the TeleManagement Forum and the Telecom Interest
Group at the Object Management Group - two of the largest
global consortia who advance and create the software
standards for the Communication and IT industries. Just
recently, Jenny received the TM
Forum Distinguished Fellow Award, she is the first
minority woman honored with this title since the establishment
of the forum 20 years ago. To see the ceremony, Click
here.
Ms. Huang has extensive experience working side by side
with the industry’s top talents, and she is now eager
to apply her knowledge and influence at the grassroots
level. Jenny firmly believes that the solutions to humanity’s
most pressing issues require global interventions that
harness good ideas and effectively transform them in
to practical solutions. Since 2006, Jenny has served
as a full time volunteer and Executive Director of the
International Free
and Open Source Software Foundation (iFOSSF). As
a committed supporter of EW's vision of multi-sector
collaborations, she will assist the organization in
creating the processes and technologies that can enable
people to make educated choices regarding public investments
and channel market forces to support novel ideas with
measurable results.
Jenny
holds a Bachelor degree in Economics and a Master degree
in Computer Science. She currently lives in New Jersey
with her husband and two children.
Top...
Sophie
LaPaire
Strategic Development
Sophie
has a keen eye for optimizing organizational efficiency
within business planning systems. She has a talent in
unifying processes across multiple divisions and organizations,
standardizing workflow, eliminating redundancy in process,
and specifying exact timelines and deliverables. She
has worked very actively with product teams to increase
time to market while keeping an eagle eye on quality
metrics. She has vast experience in architecting repeatable
and efficient workflow systems and guiding her customers
toward desired success
metrics. An experienced diplomat, Sophie is a skilled
business negotiator, successfully mediating cross-cultural
and cross-divisional priorities. She is also versed
at financial planning, budget tracking systems and financial
reporting.
In
her private life, Sophie is an avid golfer, having played
for years on the French National Golf team as well as
competitively representing UCLA on a Fulbright scholarship
throughout her college years before joining the professional
mini-tour.
Sophie
has a personal passion for the protection of human rights
and has been actively supporting numerous humanitarian
causes since her early adulthood. She lived and worked
in the Vietnamese refugee camps in Hong Kong, assisting
the “boat people” with social and job skills and offering
a source of moral support for their plight. She has
also served as liaison and communications manager for
numerous flood relief efforts in conjunction with the
International
Red Cross and has spoken before international audiences
on the needs of refugees and the disenfranchised. She
co-authored a book of Buddhist spiritual teachings which
is now selling in 23 languages worldwide. She is also
a field reporter for a satellite television station
broadcasting only positive and inspirational programming
around the world.
Sophie
is now president of Bridgemakers Consulting Corporation,
a group of like-minded consultants and business coaches
who offer a range of services including product management
and product marketing, strategic business planning,
program management and customer service optimization.
Jay
Levin
Mass
Media, Social Change & Journalistic Ethics
Jay
Levin is one of the pioneers and leaders in the independent
media industry. He has led companies in the publishing,
TV Network and Internet industries. Mr. Levin is known
for his wide knowledge, his general editorial and business
creativity, and his experience as a leading independent
culture and news specialist with an extensive range
of contacts. As the Founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief
of the Los Angeles Weekly, under his editorial, marketing
and sales leadership the newspaper became the largest
circulation and most advertising-rich weekly paper in
the country and won numerous journalism awards. While
he was heading the LA Weekly, the paper founded the
popular magazine LA Style. Later he created Planet Central
TV, a startup cable television network. He currently
heads up RealTALKLA.com
Top...
Dianne
McCutchan, MA
EW
Co-founder & Development
Advisor
Dianne
McCutchan
has helped
build EW from the ground up- since 2001. Formerly director
of consulting and information services for the Nonprofit
Support Center in Santa Barbara, Dianne is now serving
as the Development Director of the United Boys &
Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara. In that role, she is growing
resources available for youth development programs,
athletics, summer camp and teen programming. She has
chosen to focus on local youth, as a means of providing
compelling alternatives to youth violence, bridging
the achievement gap, and helping acquire and implement
tools for academic success.
Applying
her
MA in Anthropology from University California Santa
Barbara, Dianne lectured college courses on Women in
Development, and community psychology giving much needed
exposure to issues faced by the global communities EW
serves. At home in California Ms. McCutchan, with over
seven years experience in nonprofit management, has
successfully implemented a variety of youth education
programs emphasizing teenage pregnancy prevention work
and public education. Her professional roles include
Project Coordinator for United Boys & Girls Clubs
and a collaborative grant project with Planned Parenthood
and other partners focused on teenage pregnancy prevention;
Launching Teens and Toddlers, a youth development program
FOR at-risk youth in Santa Barbara through Empowerment
Works. Later as Executive Director of "Children:
Our Ultimate Investment", in Los Angeles, Dianne
multiplied Teens and Toddlers programs and funding where
it is needed most.
Top...
Suad
Sulaiman, PhD
Global
Health
Dr.
Sulaiman has over 30 years of research and program management
experience addressing the root causes of Sudan's inextricably
linked social and environmental challenges.
Suad
has been an active and founding member of the Sudanese
Environment Conservation Society (SECS) since its founding
1975 and served on the executive committee for 4 years.
SECS is Sudan's largest and most respected environmental
and sustainable community development organization with
120 branches and over 12,000 members throughout the
country.
An
expert in community development, climate change, waterborne
diseases, Dr. Sulaiman is an advisor to the World Bank,
WHO and guides multi-stakeholder collaboration in environmental
and agricultural management as part of the Nile River
Discourse.
Recognizing
the value of her local dedication and knowledge, Empowerment
Works is proud to partner with Dr. Sulaiman in extending
its community-based approach to the Sudan as Joint Program
Director of EW's integrative eco-restoration, health
and economic development strategy in her country. [See
Resume]
Meeting
a timely challenge to raise climate change consciousness,
and funds to empower those most affected with the economic,
educational and environmental tools to fight it on the
very front lines, Dr. Sulaiman made a bridge-building
tour to the United States from August 4-20th to inspire
hope and solutions for a healthy,
peaceful and sustainable Sudan.
Top...
David
C. Jamali
Organizational Development & Human Rights
Born
and raised in Zimbabwe, David is East Asia Program Officer
with Oxfam Australia focusing on Timor Leste. Before
working on the East Asia desk; he worked on the Oxfam
Australia’s Horn of Africa Program in the same role
focusing primarily on the Somaliland program and helping
on the Ethiopia program. He has been with Oxfam Australia
for almost 4 years. Before going to Australia, he worked
with the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association for 8 years,
starting with the role of Field officer and helped to
build the Economic and Social Rights Outreach Program
of the organization and later moved up to become the
National Programs Coordinator and was responsible for
managing all the organization’s programs and acted as
Executive Director. David managed donor relationship
and large budgets for institutional donors like the
Ford Foundation, European Commission (EC), HIVOS, Catholic
Relief Services (CRS), USAID, Danish International Development
Aid (DANIDA), Netherlands, British Embassy grants, Swedish
and Canadian Embassy grants.
In addition to his broad international development and
human rights achievements, David is a sculptor/artist,
current affairs host on a independent radio station
in Melbourne and proud new father of a beautiful baby
girl, Maya. Read about David's
May 2007 trip home to Zimbabwe
Top...
|
EW Research Fellows
Michael
Abrams, MA
Research Fellow for Quality
of Life
Michael Abrams
holds a Master’s in Mathematical Sciences from Johns Hopkins,
which he attended on a University Fellowship, and a Bachelor’s,
cum laude, from Hunter College. Other awards include being
a finalist in the National Merit Scholarship competition,
and a participant in Argonne National Laboratory’s Undergraduate
Research Program.
Michael’s work
history includes employment as a Systems Engineer in the Advanced
Research Divisions of both Westinghouse and Sperry Corporations,
where he helped develop next-generation radar systems for
the US military. In addition, he has contributed to research
efforts at Columbia University’s School of Public Health and
the Stevens Institute of Technology. Michael has served as
an Adjunct Professor in the Statistics Department at Florida
International University. With extensive experience tutoring
college students in Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, Michael
is currently a Course Developer and Adjunct Professor at Excelsior
College, a virtual university and will start a MA in Individualized
Studies program at Goddard College (Environmental Studies
Concentration) in Fall 2007.
The caviat
for Michael becoming EW’s first official Research Fellow centers
on his study of ‘quality of life’ (QOL), as a means of transcending
the conventional approach of gauging social development by
total economic output (GDP). Ultimately, he intends to use
his work as the basis of a textbook for a college-level course
that would introduce students to the subject of ‘QOL and Its
Measurement’. The Earth Charter reminds us that, “We must
realize that when basic needs have been met, human development
is primarily about being more, not having more.” Precisely
what this ‘being more’ entails, at the level of society, will
be the focus of his work at Goddard College, which EW will
apply to its like-minded evaluation system. Read
more about Michael's
work on EW's
Inspired Citizen Journal & Blog.
Kachina
Katrina Zavalney, MA
Research
Fellow building "Community Organizers Tool Kit"
Kachina
Katrina is an extraordinary organizer, community builder,
event planner, greener of everything she touches, educator,
and organizational development consultant.
Empowerment
Works has distinguished Kachina as an official "Research
Fellow" for the "community organizers tool kit"
she is developing for inspired people who want to do something
about the problems in this world, and don't know where to
start. Outlining specific practices and resources for local
solutions, EW looks forward to applying this educational resource
and capacity-building tool in global programs and within the
PIE network. In addition to having a global program platform
for her work, being an EW Research Fellow also enables Kachina
to fund raise for its completion through EW as non-profit
fiscal sponsor.
Kachina
Katrina has been referred to as a master net worker, connecting
broad spectrums of people together through important issues
and innovative solutions. She has learned and practiced community
building sharpening organizing skills with the City Repair
project in Portland, OR since 1999, becoming their national
outreach coordinator.
Read
more about & download Kachina's Toolkit via EW's Inspired
Citizen welcoming her to EW!
Top...
Global
Trustees
Dr.
Emanuel Bassene
Senegal
Professor
and Director of Senegal's National University University Anta
Chiek Diop Medical School Department of Ethnobiology. Dr.
Bassene is a native of the southern Casamance region of Senegal.
His insights into the indigenous Diola culture and scientific
research experience make him an invaluable adviser and co-creator
of the Casamance Institute of Arts & Sciences vision since
2001.
Craig
Chirinda
Zimbabwe
Principal
of Nova Capital Group, Craig promotes trade and investment
into the southern Africa region, which is the place of his
childhood. Although he is based in the States, he is actually
a Zimbabwe national. He has handled nearly US$4 billion in
leads, financing deals, and joint ventures flowing into Africa
and if that isn’t enough he speaks seven languages. And he
has managed to get all of this under while still in his early
twenties.
As
an international trustee, based in Harare, Zimbabwe, Craig
has developed an extraordinary local oversight committee and
outreaching globally to promote economic self reliance in
expanding markets for EWZ Beyond Fair Trade™ crafts. Read
a great interview with Craig Here
Elisaveta
Petkova, MPH
Bulgaria
Elisaveta
holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Environmental Health
from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health (2008)
and a BS in Biotechnology (2003) from Asen Zlatarov University
in Bulgaria.
Elisaveta
has extensive experience with environmental and human health
risk assessment, and risk communication. At the present she
is a project manager at StrataTox, LLC, a Minnesota based
human health risk assessment consulting company. Previously
she was a program development specialist and conference organizer
at the International QSAR Foundation to reduce animal testing
and a Research Assistant at the University Of Minnesota School
Of Medicine in Duluth, MN.
An
accomplished communicator, skilled in media outreached, Elisaveta
has a special talent in social marketing and communicating
organization's vision, mission, and values to various audiences.
She joined the EW team in 2006 to help shape the image of
Empowerment Works! by creating a website reflecting the core
values and vision of EW, and continues to serve in an advisory
role. Visit: www.epetkova.com
David
Whortley
United
Kingdom
Director
of Serious
Games Institute in Coventry England, David Whortley is
a renowned expert in online communications and lectures globally
on the social impact of Second Life and other virtual worlds.
In
his role as EW Global Trustee, he is providing EW and participants
of the Global Summit a physical address in the UK at Serious
Games Institute along with access to over 70 international
communication spaces in the “Soft Landing Zones” project sponsored
by the UK Trade & Investment Dept.
David
became involved in EW in 2007 after co-chairing day 3 of the
International Symposium on Digital Earth with EW's Melanie
St.James.
Top...
|
