Board of Trustees

Partners for Development's board is comprised of experienced individuals in non-profit management, business, and academia.  You may access brief biographies of our Board members by clicking on their names.

Staff

The Washington, DC area headquarters is staffed by professionals in international development. Overseas programs are managed by technical and professional staff hired either out of the Washington area office or in-country. A majority of PFD staff are country nationals- meaning profound knowledge of the local language, culture, and needs. You may access a brief biography of PFD Staff by clicking on their names.

HQ Staff

Executive Director: Jack Marrkand

Senior Accountant: Donna Ellis

Director of Program Development: Anne Johnson

Program Manager: Maja Cholody

Program Manager: Christie Roberts

Administrative Assistant: Mariam d'Eustachio

Financial Intern: Mbuyoti Malenga 

Program Support Officer: Alisha Gray 

Program Support Officer: Rachel Morrison

Nigeria Country Team

Country Program Director : Ediri Iruaga

Deputy Country Program Director: Dr. Mekebeb Negerie

Finance Director:  Kelechi Nnana 

Finance Manager: Akinola Fagbohun

Admin/HR Manager: Tanya Olofu

Strategic Information Manager: Fatiya Musah

Health Technical Advisor: Helen Ibrahim

SED Training Coordinator: Yinka Akinpelu

SED Program Coordinator: Paul Adejumo

Bauchi Program Manager: Danjuma Yakubu

Benue Program Manager: Emmanuel Itodo

Delta Program Manager: Paul Asogwa

Akwa Ibom Program Manager: Emmanuel Ojar

Cambodia Country Team

Country Program Director: Dr. Im Sarun

Technical Health Advisor: Dr. Philippe Guyant

Program Manager: Chin Polo

Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator: Sun Maysac

Finance Manager: Lonh Sok Heng

Administration Manager: Khov Bunheang

Koh Kong Malaria Program Officer:  Chhiev Kimly

Kratie Malaria Program Officer: Son Seng Ean

Steung Treng Malaria Program Officer:  Seung Snguon 

Kampot Malaria Program Officer: Chao Sophea

Tanzania Country Team

Country Program Director: Mark Pommerville

Deputy Country Program Director: Eva Kassara

Director of Finance and Administration: Justine Katesigwa

Local Outreach Partner Coordinator: Gwamaka Mwakyanjala

Office Manager: Ambrose Hanspope

Program Support Officer: Jonathan Mwambete

Program Support Officer: Micaela Arthur

Nutrition Program Officer: Elfrida Kumalija

Benin Country Team

Country Program Director: JoEllen McGann

Bosnia & Herzegovina Country Team

Representative: Azra Hodzic

Board Biographies

Steven Hansch

Steven Hansch has been a trustee of Partners for Development since 2003, and a friend of PFD, following its activities, since the early 1990s.  He also serves on the boards of several other non-profits, and has worked in the world of private voluntary organizations for most of his career, including field work with CARE, International Rescue Committee, the Refugee Policy Group, Tufts University, and Food Aid Management.  Trained in epidemiology and nutrition, he worked as well for Unicef, the World Health Organization and the World Bank, and also teaches courses in area universities, and is a Fellow of the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University.  He has spent time in the field in each of the countries where PFD works, including travel to its health clinics in eastern Nigeria, visits to agro-processing sites in Bosnia, malaria-control sites in northern Cambodia, and with partners in Dar es Salaam.

Joel Montague

Joel Montague is a public health officer.  He has been a Trustee of Partners for Development (and its predecessor organization) for 18 years and was its Chairman for eight of those years. He has been a trustee of various nonprofit organizations including the US Committee for Refugees, the National Council for International Health (now-called the “Global Health Council”), Immigration and Refugee Services of America and PFD-Cambodia, a local nonprofit organization in Cambodia working on malaria education through the primary school system. His first of many overseas assignments was in 1961. His last, from 1993-1997, was as the John Snow representative in Cambodia. He was awarded the Medal of Honor of the Iranian Red Lion and Son (the Red Cross) and was made an Officer of the Order of Republic of Tunisia.

Joel has lectured and chaired workshops at a number of graduate schools in the United States and abroad and is the author of some 29 articles on development and public health. In 2008, he co-authored a book on Vietnam entitled The Colonial Good Life published by White Lotus Press. Joel is married to Shahnaz Montague, a physician in private practice and is father of Jahan Montague, a professor of internal medicine and a daughter, Maryam Montague who does development work specializing in governance and women’s issues based in Morocco.

Deidre Lapin

Deirdre LaPin, Ph.D, MPH, is a scholar and international development specialist with longstanding experience across academia, government, multilateral agencies, and the private sector.  During 2008-2009 she was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in the Smithsonian Institution, researching the social history of the Niger Delta.  Dr. LaPin was previously a Research Associate and Lecturer at the University of Ife, Nigeria, and has taught at Emory University, the University of Pennsylvania, and as tenured Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas.

Subsequent to her academic career, Dr. LaPin joined UNICEF as a senior official in Benin Republic and Somalia, where she initiated new strategies for health, water supply, and strategic planning.  She later became manager of a worldwide project for the USAID Office of Health and Population.  From 1997 she served a major company in the oil industry as a social investment manager, based for five years in the Niger Delta and two years in Oman, leading the design, staffing, implementation, and evaluation of sustainable community development programs.  She is currently an Associate in the African Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania and a consultant for the private sector and international development agencies on best practice social policy and investment.  She also serves on the Board of the Phi Beta Kappa Association of the Washington DC area.

Stephen O'Brien

Steve O’Brien is a retired Chief Economist from the World Bank. For 24 years, Mr. O’Brien was employed by the Bank and held the positions of Senior Economist for Eastern Africa, Division Chief for Operations in the Philippines, Chief Economist for West Africa and later for Sub-Saharan Africa, Chief of Regional Mission for Eastern Africa and Kenya, and lastly as Adviser to Human Resources on field office staffing.

Since his retirement in 1997, Mr. O’Brien has worked on several projects relating to economics, corruption, aid policy, and development.  Some examples include the evaluation of an IDA Economic Recovery and Rehabilitation Credit for Eritrea in 1997; team leader of World Bank missions assessing corruption in Tanzania and Uganda and the effectiveness of anti-corruption programs there in 1998; co-author of a Kenya case study on Aid and Policy Reforms in Africa for the World Bank Research Department in 1999; as adjunct professor at both The George Washington University and Johns Hopkins University; and most recently on various assignments with World Bank Independent Evaluation Group in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Malawi, and Cambodia.

Steve received his Bachelors in Business Administration from the University of Kansas and his Masters in Economics from Stanford University.

Wasiq N. Khan

Wasiq N. Khan holds a Ph. D. in Economics, an M.A. in International Political Economy, and a B.A. in Political and Social Thought.  Dr. Khan has served as a consultant at the World Bank on projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and in sub-Saharan Africa.  In 2005, Dr. Khan worked with the Bank on a Social Development project for the MENA region, focusing specifically on youth unemployment in the region.

From 2002-2003, Dr. Khan worked on the AIDS Campaign Team for Africa, which focused on HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation efforts in Africa. He has presented economic research on the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the dynamics of global labor migration, and the efficacy of foreign food aid at the American Economics Association, the Eastern Economics Association, and the Southwestern Economics Association. He has also been published in the American Economics Association Annual Meeting Papers and in the International Public Policy Review.

Currently, Dr. Khan is an assistant Professor of Economics at the Franklin College Switzerland in Switzerland and at the University of Saint Mary in Kansas, USA.

Staff Biographies

HQ

Anne Johnson

Anne Randall Johnson is Director for Program Development. Anne has Masters degrees in Middle East/Islamic Studies as well as International Development Management.  She has 20 years of international program management experience, much of it in post-conflict countries.  She specializes in community-driven development, local governance and capacity-building programs for civil society organizations involved in economic and social development.   She has worked in former Yugoslavia, Egypt, West Bank/Gaza, Afghanistan and Nigeria.  Her work in Afghanistan and Serbia focused on programs mobilizing citizens to participate in local development planning and to gain skills in local governance. Her other project work has included supervision of rural development grants programs, small enterprise development and micro-finance programs for women.  Anne has worked for PFD on several occasions including the launching of PFD in Nigeria in 2000, and as Country Program Director for PFD in Nigeria.

Christie Roberts

Christie Roberts is PFD's Program Manager at the US Headquarters Office. Christie earned a degree in sociology from Brandeis University in Massachusetts and also has a certificate in Women’s Studies from Brandeis.   Additionally, Christie holds a Master’s Degree in International Studies from the University of Denver and a second Master’s Degree in International Conflict Analysis from the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies; at Kent, Christie was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. In the most immediate past, Christie was Development Coordinator at the International Peace Research Association Foundation.  She has also served as the Director of Programs at the national office of the World Affairs Councils of America where her responsibilities included strategic planning, marketing and public relations, organizational capacity-building, business development, and program management. Christie has won fellowships for work in emerging market development in Jordan and in conflict resolution in Northern Ireland, and she will be presenting papers at conferences in the United Arab Emirates and Canada in March 2012. 

Christie is proficient in French and also has language skills in Spanish and Arabic. Christie enjoys outdoor activities including running, hiking, biking, and kayaking. 

Country Program Directors

Ediri Iruaga 

Ediri Kingsley Iruaga is currently serving as Country Program Director Partners for Development Nigeria.  Previously Ediri served as Deputy Country Program Director in Nigeria. He was born in Delta state, Nigeria and has a Masters degree in Agronomy from the Internationa Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria.  Before joining PFD, he had over seven years experience in community development, program design, implementation and evaluation with substantial focus on women and youth.  He is experienced in developing proposals, project reports and designing entrepreneurship training for micro and small enterprises and loan recipients (women and youth) in underserved and conflict areas.  His area of specialization is microfinance and business development services and he is a master trainer for a curriculum which PFD helped to develop which is entitled Nigerian Agricultural Enterprise Curriculum (NAEC), featured in many PFD projects.