Staff & Volunteers

• Tobias Eigen, Executive Director
  Tobias (blog, profile) has been involved in Internet in Africa since 1992, and has worked with several international organizations and social justice projects in Benin, Liberia, Madagascar, and Nigeria. At Kabissa, he oversees the development of our Internet services and information sharing programs. He holds degrees from Georgetown University and Sussex University.

• Sokari Ekine, Community Coordinator
  Sokari (blog, profile) is a Nigerian social activist with a multidisciplinary background in education, technology, gender issues and human rights. She is particularly interested in the use of technology as a tool for social justice and human rights and has extensive experience of working with online media. Prior to joining Kabissa, Sokari worked as Sub-Saharan Editor for Global Voices and more recently as Online Editor for Pambazuka News. Sokari is the founder and principle author of Black Looks, an award winning Pan African feminist blog covering a range of Africa related issues. She also created the African Women's Blog, an aggregator of blogs by African women across the continent and the Diaspora and has been involved with a number of gender based blogging initiatives.

• Former staff, volunteers and interns:
  Vicki Aken, Rohan Amin, Jude Andreason, Glen Aronson, Cynthia Bartel, Bente Brandt, Ryan Cargo, Kate Couturier, Austin Duncan, Elizabeth Fisher, Lauren Forstbauer, Sami Ghazi, Brad Knowles, Adrienne Laurie, Kim Lowery, Vince Mamo, Natalie McIntyre, Bethany Neumann, Eyabane Patasse, Chris Perry, Shawn Pompian, Vicrum Puri, Lauren Rosapep, Nadine Sanginga, Greg Schnippel, Alex Schual-Berke, Ghislain Siewe, Elizabeth Trautman, Leshoya Starkey, Soumya Vishnu, Nathan Yoder, Alexi Zekas

Board of Directors

• Tobias Eigen, President
  Tobias (blog, profile) has been involved in Internet in Africa since 1992, and has worked with several international organizations and social justice projects in Benin, Liberia, Madagascar, and Nigeria. At Kabissa, he oversees the development of our Internet services and information sharing programs. He holds degrees from Georgetown University and Sussex University.

• Peter Eigen, Secretary
  Peter Eigen (profile) is the founder of Transparency International (TI), a non-governmental organization promoting transparency and accountability in government and international development. He served in the World Bank for almost 25 years, where he held various management positions in the Latin America and Africa Regions of the Bank, and was Director of the Regional Mission of the World Bank in Eastern Africa. He has taught at the universities of Frankfurt, Georgetown, Harvard/John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Johns Hopkins University/SAIS; currently he teaches at the Freie Universität Berlin. He is a Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a member of the Advisory Commission of the UN Global Compact, and a member of the board of the Center for International Environmental Law.

• Daniel Ritchie, Treasurer
  Daniel Ritchie (profile) is an independent consultant on economic development. He served in the World Bank for almost 30 years before retiring in 1997. His positions included Director for North Africa and Iran, Director of the Asia Region Technical Department, Deputy Director, Personnel Department, Chief, India Country Operations, Chief, Agriculture and Rural Development, Southern Europe. He currently manages the World Bank's technical cooperation program with the city of Washington DC and serves on the board of the Partnership for Transparency Fund, an organization dedicated to helping civil society play an effective role in the design, implementation and monitoring of national anti-corruption programs. He also manages a scholarship fund for students in Kenya. Dan holds degrees in public administration.

• John Githongo
  John Githongo (profile) was until July 2005 a Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President of the Republic of Kenya in charge of Governance and Ethics. Previously he has worked as a Director on Transparency International’s global board and as Executive Director of Transparency International-Kenya. He has also worked as a consultant and journalist. His Honours university degree was in Economics and Philosophy, completed at the University of Wales (Swansea) in 1987.

• Neema Mgana
  Neema Mgana (profile), born and raised in Tanzania has a Masters in International Public Health. As an undergraduate student, she co-founded an AIDS organization to serve children affected with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. In 2002, she founded the African Regional Youth Initiative, an organization working with hundreds of youth and community-based organizations all over Africa on social, economic and political issues. In 2005, she was the youngest of 1000 women from around the world jointly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She received her B.S. from University of Victoria, Canada. She also has certificates in Humanitarian Assistance and International Peace Studies.
  

• Kim Lowery, United States
  Kim (profile) began working at Kabissa in 2001 as a volunteer, assisting with strategic planning and marketing. In 2003, she became Kabissa's Program Manager and between July 2005 and November 2007 she was the Co-Executive Director, assuming responsibility for Kabissa's finances, human resources and the management of the Time to Get Online program. She has expertise in international project management and IT system implementations. She holds a degree in economics and an international MBA.

Advisory Group

• Stephanie de Chassy, USA/France, Associate Director, OneWorld US
  With 12 years as a marketing professional, Stephanie has extensive experience in market analysis, strategic marketing planning and marketing communications. She recently made the transition from the corporate to the civil society sector. Before this move, she held strategic marketing positions at companies such as France Telecom, Visa and American Express, working most recently as the Director of Market Analysis, Strategy and Planning at Cable and Wireless. She received her MBA from Thunderbird.

• Sokari Ekine, Nigeria
  Sokari is a Nigerian feminist and social activist with a multidisciplinary background in education, technology, gender issues and human rights. She is particularly interested in the use of technology as a tool for social justice and human rights. Sokari is the founder and principle author of Black Looks, a Pan African feminist blog covering a range of Africa related issues. She is the Online Editor of Pambazuka News, a weekly electronic newsletter on social justice in Africa.
  
  
• Toni Eliasz, Finland/South Africa, Executive Director, Co-Founder of Ungana Afrika
  Toni Eliasz is a rising young visionary, advocate, and a speaker on international digital divide issues. He has gained a reputation as a mission driven social entrepreneur with the aim to understand the opportunities and risks of future technologies (especially Information and communication Technologies, ICTs) and uses this knowledge to contribute towards sustainable world and society. Toni holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Sciences from University of Helsinki. During his free time, he is continuing his Ph.D. studies focusing on the Global Information Society.

• Nancy Hafkin, USA
  Nancy is a pioneer of networking, and development information and communications in Africa, over the course of a twenty-three year career. Nancy Hafkin founded and spearheaded the Pan African Development Information System (PADIS) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), as Officer-in-Charge from its inception in 1980 until 1997. She later served as Team Leader for Promoting of Information Technology for Development, of the Development Information Services Division of ECA (UN) from 1997 until 2000. There she also served as Coordinator of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI), the African mandate to use ICTs to accelerate socio-economic development in Africa. Nancy also served as a facilitator in establishing the Partnership for Information and Communication Technologies in Africa (PICTA), a coordinating body of donor and executing agency partners in support of the AISI.

• Diego Hidalgo, Spain, President, FRIDE
  Diego worked at the World Bank from 1968 to 1977, where he was promoted in 1974 to Head of Division, assuming the responsibility for the Bank's projects in the 45 sub-Saharan countries of Africa. He was the founder of FRIDA (Foundation for Research and Investment for the Development of Africa), and President of DFC (Development Finance Corporation) since 1977. He is a cofounder and member of the Board of EL PAIS, the main daily newspaper in Spain, Founding Member and Senior Fellow of the Gorbachev Foundation of North America (GFNA), President of FRIDE (Fundacion para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Dialogo Exterior), founding member of the Club of Madrid, President of DARA (Development Assistance and Research Associates) as well as an active member of the Club of Rome and its board of governors. Additionally, he works with the Toledo International Center for Peace, University of the Middle East, Education for Employment Foudation, Foreign Policy Magazine, and http://www.lossantos.org, a Foundation-Venture Capital organization to develop his village Los Santos de Maimona in Extremadura. He studied law at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and received an MBA from Harvard University. He completed his PhD in Political Science at the City University of New York.
• Satish Jha, India, eHealth-care Foundation, James Martin & Co India, Digital Partners India, Baramati Initiatives in ICT for Development; DESI Power
  Satish supports ICT for Development initiatives on management, business strategy, organizational restructuring, information technology strategy, applications development and their implementation. Satish is actively engaged in non-profit activities. Four projects supported by him were selected as finalists at the Stockholm Challenge Award and one of them was awarded the honor. As a management consultant he has supported more than 120 organizations in developing and implementing their information technology and corporate strategy, organizational architectures, business process reengineering and implementing enterprise wide application systems. Satish was appointed Special Adviser to Kofi Annan Center for Excellence in ICTs for Development that was set up by the governments of India and Ghana and support from Kofi Annan to help West African region benefit from appropriate strategies in utilizing ICTs.
  
  
• Sanjeev Khagram, Uganda, Associate Professor University of Washington
  Sanjeev directs the Evans School’s Marc Lindenberg Center for Humanitarian Action at the University of Washington, International Development and Global Citizenship, which enhances the School’s international research capacity and global learning opportunities on campus and in the community. Prior to joining the Evans faculty, he was on the faculty of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where he also was affiliated with several interdisciplinary research centers. He is a scholar and researcher in the emerging field of transnational studies, and brings over 15 years of applied research experience on the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in transnational dynamics, democratization, global governance, and international development. He was senior advisor for the World Commission on Dams. Sanjeev holds a B.A. in development studies/engineering, an M.A. in economics (food research), and a Ph.D. in political science, all from Stanford University.
• William (Bill) Lester, USA, CIO of EngenderHealth
  Bill is a visionary in nonprofit use of information and communications technologies, particularly in low-resource settings, and serves as lead strategist on all EngenderHealth knowledge management projects. As the Senior Director of Technology for EngenderHealth, Bill was instrumental in designing and implementing Internet connectivity and technology solutions for the agency's offices in more than 30 countries. Most important is his commitment to train staff in the effective use of technology and new media tools. Bill is a board member of NTEN (NonProfit Technology Enterprise Network) and a founding member of NPOKI (NonProfit Organization Knowledge Initiative). Prior to his work for EngenderHealth, Bill was a senior technology consultant for Keane, Inc., an international consulting firm.
• Jeff Kwaterski, USA, Manager, Knowledge Networking Services, Pact
  Jeff specializes in the development of organizational networks and capacity building strategies. HE is responsible for knowledge management and organizational learning-related programming within Pact, and has provided external technical assistance in the design and implementation of several networking initiatives including the Mexican Conservation Learning Network, the Network of Latin American and Caribbean Environmental Foundations, the Inter-American Democracy Network and the Social Justice Network of Bangladesh. He currently heads Pact’s Online Communities service on the Impact Alliance portal. Mr. Kwaterski holds an MBA and an MA from the University of Wisconsin, and has research and consulting experience in knowledge management, strategic communications, and systems that enhance organizational learning, innovation and change.
• Sylvie Niombo, Congo, President, AZUR Development
  Sylvie is the President of a Congoleze NGO, AZUR Développement. She is responsible for building up and strengthening partnerships between the NGO and other organizations. Sylvie is also a member of APC Africa Women Network. Prior to this post, she has volunteered with the Association of Youth Media in Congo. As a journalist, she is also member of the International Women Media Foundation Network. She has much interest in research about civil society and has written many papers on ICTs. In 2003, she was a Panos London Fellow Researcher and has published a report on ICTs use by Congolese civil society. In addition to this, she has been active in the preparation of the World Summit of information society with International Conference Volunteers (Switzerland). Sylvie did her postgraduate studies in Media Communication at the University Marien Ngouabi of Brazzaville (Congo).
• Craig Stewart, USA President, Apex Foundation
  Craig began development work at Lewis University in Lockport, Illinois, where he worked in the late sixties and early seventies as vice president for University Relations. He has served as development director at Regis University in Denver, Colorado and Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut. He was director of development at Lakeside School from 1986 to 1996. During that period he advised a number of non-profit institutions, particularly in the area of development planning and major gift fundraising. As a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, he received his bachelor of arts in political science, followed by his master's degree in ethnic studies from Governors State University in Illinois and an Ed.D. in higher education from Western Colorado. He co-authored a book on trusteeship with William Golding, titled Inside the Nonprofit Boardroom.
• Elizabeth Trautman
  Liz Trautman managed our Member Services between 2004-2007, including communication with existing member organizations as well as outreach to potential member organizations. Liz graduated in May 2005 from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Regional Studies: Africa, with a certificate in Women's Studies.