Debbie Dean, Director, Microsavings
As the Director of the Microsavings Initiative at Grameen Foundation, Debbie works with microfinance institutions in Ethiopia, India and the Philippines to help them develop savings programs for the poor. The groundbreaking initiatives there have created savers from communities of people whose income is less than $2 per day.
Before coming to Grameen Foundation, Debbie spent 20 years in the technology industry, where she led and managed technical sales teams, business operations and product management at such companies as IBM, Legent Corporation and Cisco Systems, where she learned first-hand the impact that technology platforms can bring to the delivery of financial products.
Debbie received her degree in Finance and Economics from Miami University and studied at the Boulder Institute of Microfinance. She has been a guest lecturer at the Wharton School of Business, the Brookings Institute, the SEEP Conference and the USAID Microlinks Speakers Corner, and has been published in the Enterprise Development & Microfinance Journal. She sits on the board of the DaltonDemorest Foundation, is a member of ZONTA International and a mentor for Women Advancing Microfinance.
Sean DeWitt, Director, Applab Indonesia
Sean DeWitt is passionate about unlocking human potential through innovation in social entrepreneurship, mobile technology and microfinance. At Grameen Foundation, Sean first worked on our Village Phone initiative, collaborating with microfranchise companies in Uganda and Rwanda, then moved to Indonesia to help launch a social enterprise (PT Ruma), working with our Application Laboratory team to develop and deliver a suite of mobile applications that enable new microfranchise business opportunities for the poor and poorest.
Sean joined Grameen Foundation with 10 years of experience in the public, nonprofit and private sectors. He led the development of an open-source solution for small businesses for a New York City-based foundation, optimized supply chains and logistics for Intel Corporation and the Walt Disney Company, helped design and implement the first two releases of the SAP mobile sales-force solution with Fortune 500 clients in Europe and the Americas as a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, and led technology projects with local partners in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean with the U.S. Department of State to help build online trading opportunities. Sean holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Purdue University and a Master’s in Development Finance from the University of London.
Kari Hammett-Caster, Director of Online & Annual Giving
Kari Hammett-Caster creates and implements online and direct mail fundraising campaigns for current and prospective donors, and leads efforts to increase visibility through online promotions, corporate giving campaigns, events, and e-mail. Kari brings more than 10 years of experience in nonprofit development and corporate giving, and a passion for helping donors change the world.
Before joining the Grameen Foundation team, Kari was Manager of Donor Relations at Unitus, where she led its involvement in workplace giving campaigns, supporter stewardship, donor-related trips and events, and volunteer programs. Kari also spent three years on the Community Affairs team at Microsoft, driving their employee giving campaign (covering 40,000 employees) and their matching-gifts program, and four years in development at Rainier Christian Schools. She holds a Bachelors in Communications from Trinity Western University in British Columbia.
Beverly Jackson, Director, Human Resources
Beverly has served as the Director of Human Resources for Grameen Foundation since 2006. During her tenure with Grameen Foundation, Beverly has led various human resources initiatives in support of Grameen Foundation’s mission. Beverly’s human resources career reaches over 25 years in the public sector where she managed benefits, employee relations, payroll and talent management initiatives for large heath care institutions. She received her Master’s Degree in Human Resources Development from Towson University.
Robyn MacIntire, Director of Regional Development
As Grameen Foundation's Director of Regional Development, based in Seattle, Robyn MacIntire brings more than 20 years of experience in fundraising, donor relations, client development, and strategic planning to the organization. Before joining Grameen, Robyn was Director of Development at the University of Washington's Henry Art Gallery, where she was a key member of their leadership team. She has also served as the Major Gifts Officer at the Seattle Art Museum, and the Associate Director of Major Gifts at the Seattle Symphony.
Earlier in her career, Robyn was an Investment Representative for Bank of America Investment Services and Prudential Securities, advising clients with assets up to $10 million. Robyn earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration & Arts Management from Principia College in Elsah, IL, and has studied at the University of Glasgow, Royal Scottish Academy of Dramatic Arts, and the Chinese Institute of National Minorities in Beijing, China.
Henry Maloba, Program Director, Mobile Financial Services Accelerator
Henry Maloba serves as Grameen Foundation's project director for the Mobile Financial Services Accelerator in Uganda, operated in partnership with MTN. Henry brings more than 13 years of expertise in the banking and telecommunication industries. After a number of years in the banking industry, Henry's most recent role was at Airtel, where he was responsible for Airtel Money Kenya. He launched the first global micro-loan product dubbed 'Kopa Chapaa' delivered through the mobile-money wallet. He was part of the team that partnered with MasterCard International, Standard Chartered Bank and Airtel to come up with the Airtel OnLine Pay which is touted as the world's first virtual card that operates from a wallet residing on a mobile phone. It won the best mobile money product award at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2011.
Khuloud Odeh, Director, Information Technology
Khuloud Odeh brings to Grameen Foundation 15 years of IT experience from the private, public, nonprofit and international development sectors. In the recent years of her career and academic research, she has focused on sustainability and the enabling role of information and communication technology (ICT) in sustainable development. For more than five years as Chief Information Officer of CHF International, an international development NGO, Khuloud led the organization’s IT functions and strategy during a period of rapid and challenging international growth. Most recently, she served as a Senior Strategic IT adviser to JHPIEGO, an international health organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, and as a senior advisor to the Multinational Development of Women in Technology (MDWIT). In her earlier career, Khuloud held several senior software-development and management positions in the Middle East, Canada and the US.
She is a PhD candidate at the Volgenau School of IT and Engineering at George Mason University, and recently received a Master’s degree in Strategic Leadership toward Sustainability (MSLS) from Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden. She holds a B.S. from the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan and Master’s degree in Computer Science from American University in Washington, DC. Through working in the international development sector, Khuloud got her deeper understanding of sustainable development principles and managed to combine two of her greatest passions: the love for innovative use of IT, and the passion for helping people. Though she currently lives in Washington, DC, Khuloud is originally from Palestine and is a native Arabic speaker.
Sean Paavo Krepp, Uganda Country Director and Program Manager, AppLab and CKW Initiatives
Sean has overall responsibility for Grameen Foundation’s operations and programs in Uganda, ensuring the ongoing delivery of impact, while scaling and developing sustainable business models for the CKW initiative and new AppLab Uganda initiatives.
Sean came to Grameen Foundation with over 11 years of ICT experience, including extensive work in the African context. From 2008-2010, Sean served as Head of Emerging Market Services, Middle East and Africa, at Nokia, where he and his team developed mobile services such as Nokia Ovi’s Life Tools, aimed at supporting poor farmers and their families with mobile services in agriculture, education, and health. In addition, Sean previously served as Deputy Head of Nokia’s EU office, and held the role of secretary of the EU Africa Business Forum. He has served in various roles in strategy, marketing, product, and business development throughout his career.
Lee-Anne Pitcaithly, Global Mobile Financial Services Advisor
As Global Mobile Financial Services Advisor, Lee-Anne is working to prove that there are sustainable operational and commercial models for delivering formal banking services to the poor via mobile money. She brings to the role more than four years of “on the ground” experience in mobile money start ups, including time as CEO of WING (in Cambodia). Lee-Anne has been involved with all the key elements of the development of mobile financial services (agent network, regulation, system development, KYC and compliance, back office processing, product development and partnership management). Before being involved in mobile financial services, Lee-Anne has worked in the utilities, logistics and telecommunications industries, specializing in project management, governance, and commercial management.
Karen Romano, Country Director, Ghana, and MOTECH Program Lead
Karen Romano is an international public health specialist with more than 20 years of experience developing and managing health and social change programs that achieve results. She has proven expertise in leading diverse teams to deliver programs that address the complex needs of people living in poverty and affected by HIV/AIDS and other health challenges. Ms. Romano is skilled at strengthening health systems at all levels, including forming strategic partnerships among government, civil society, private sector and communities that result in local ownership and multi-sectoral investment in project services.
Before joining Grameen Foundation, she served as Country Director for PCI Botswana, where she managed multi-million-dollar programs funded by USAID focusing on civil society and government-capacity building, private-public partnerships, comprehensive care for people living with HIV and their families, child health and development, economic empowerment and gender equity. In addition to Botswana, Ms. Romano’s country experience includes six years living in Zambia, where she managed orphans/vulnerable children and HIV/AIDS programs, and short-term assignments in Ethiopia, Malawi, Central America, India, Indonesia and Romania.
Matthew Speh, Director, Capital Management and Advisory Center
Matthew Speh is responsible for Grameen Foundation's investment strategy involving microfinance institutions (MFIs) and social enterprises. In directing the Capital Markets group, he oversees Grameen Foundation’s $35 million Growth Guarantee program, which helps more established MFIs gain access to financing in local currency, as well as the $7 million Pioneer Fund, which helps provide financing to less established MFIs. He has more than 15 years of capital markets and consulting experience in microfinance, corporate banking, private equity, portfolio management, and loan work-out.
Matthew joined Grameen Foundation in 2009, after consulting with the shareholders of Bank Andara in Indonesia to enable a local retail bank to offer wholesale correspondent banking services to MFIs throughout the country. He previously served as Director of Investments at MicroVest Capital Management LLC, where he directed the origination, structuring and asset allocation of more than $60 million in debt and equity microfinance investments. Before entering the microfinance sector, Matthew gained more than six years of capital markets experience at Bank of America within the private equity, relationship banking and distressed-assets management areas of the bank.
Matthew received a BA degree in International Affairs, cum laude, from James Madison University, and an MBA from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.
Richard Swai, Senior Business Analyst, Mobile Agriculture
Richard Swai is Senior Business Analyst for Grameen Foundation’s Mobile Agriculture program, which includes providing business and financial analysis, growth strategy and operational guidance to the Community Knowledge Worker initiative in Uganda, and to other agriculture efforts underway in Colombia and Ghana.
Richard brings more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry in the US and Africa. Richard was most recently executive director of a water borehole drilling company in Tanzania, working with NGOs and the government to provide clean drinking water to the rural poor.
Before that, he spent seven years as chief investment officer of the Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund (SAEDF), which has put more than $80 million to work providing financing to 29 indigenous ventures across southern Africa that directly employ more than 2,000 workers and have led to the creation of an estimated 50,000 jobs. Before joining SAEDF, he was a senior financial analyst with Aquila Energy in Houston, Texas, and held positions with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Washington, DC, and Citibank in New York. Richard holds an MBA from Wharton.
Emily Tucker, Business Director, Solutions
Emily has more than seven years of experience in the technology sector, most recently at Amazon.com, where she oversaw product development, marketing and strategic planning for the used-product ("marketplace") business, which achieved $81M of sales in the first year of operations. Before to that, she worked at Wired Digital (the online division of Wired magazine), where she was the Senior Producer of Wired News.
Emily has long been interested in India. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University with a degree in Comparative Religion and South Asian traditions, and spent her junior year of college studying at Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India.
John Tull, Director of Mobile Agriculture Innovation
John combines 20 years of leadership experience in private-sector ICT firms in Asia with three years of grassroots local economic development in Africa and Latin America to drive new business opportunities. John’s most recent private-sector role was as Chief Marketing Officer for the leading subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent Inc., responsible for new-market development and large mobile data-solution strategies for this $4 billion operation. His exposure to the economic development possibilities created through the “broadband for all” solutions he developed in mobile telecom led him to work as Senior Business Consultant with TechnoServe in eastern and southern Africa, as well as Central America and Chile. In this latter role, John advised multiple agribusiness value-chain projects, including business planning and financing for dairy-chilling plants with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded East Africa Dairy Development project (in Rwanda and Kenya), horticulture and cocoa value-chain linkages (Tanzania) and entrepreneurship consulting (Chile). He initiated and conducted a global consulting capability-development program within TechnoServe and most recently developed franchise-style business projects for micro-level maize milling and small commercial-farmer seed multiplication and mechanized services in Mozambique.
John holds a Master’s degree in International Public Policy (cum laude) from Johns Hopkins University and Master’s degrees in business administration, applied finance and business research from Australia, the last as part of an ongoing PhD candidature at the University of Sydney in business strategy. His undergraduate degree was in philosophy.
