Our Team

See also:

Our Board of Directors Our Advisory Board
Mari Kuraishi

Mari Kuraishi - Founder and President, GlobalGiving Foundation

Mari heads up the internal operations of GlobalGiving, which she co-founded with Dennis Whittle. Before GlobalGiving, she worked at the World Bank where she managed and created some of the Bank's most innovative projects including the first ever Innovation and Development Marketplaces, and the first series of strategic forums with the World Bank's president and senior management. Mari also designed a range of investment projects in the Russia reform program, including a residential energy efficiency project, structural adjustment loans, and legal reform project. In addition to her native Japanese, Mari also speaks Russian, 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.

Dennis Whittle

Dennis Whittle - Founder and CEO

Dennis Whittle is CEO of GlobalGiving, which he co-founded in late 2000 after a career in the official aid sector. GlobalGiving is the world's leading marketplace for international philanthropy. It allows qualified community-based groups around the world to post projects, and anyone in the world to fund them. Updates are posted directly to the site and automatically sent to donors, who can provide feedback and ask questions. Tens of thousands of individual donors, as well as many leading Fortune 500 companies, use GlobalGiving. From 1997 to 2000, Dennis co-led the World Bank's Corporate Strategy and Innovation units, including 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's Woodrow Wilson School. Dennis also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

 
Georg Apitz

Georg Apitz - Senior Front End Web Developer

Helping users to better interact with computers, by actually letting the computers and designers do the majority of the work, is Georg's take on interface design. In this spirit he works on constantly improving the GlobalGiving site to live up to this idea. Georg holds a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, where he is currently pursuing his PhD at the Human-Computer Interaction Lab. Before coming to Maryland he studied Computer Science at the University of Leipzig. Prior to his studies in Computer Science Georg studied Furniture Restoration and Craftmanship at the BCUC in High Wycombe, UK and completed an apprenticeship at Tischlerei Laue as cabinet maker in Berlin, Germany. Back in his High School days he was involved in organizing student exchanges between Germany and Poland and helped organize a charity to support orphanages in Romania.

Bill Browser

Bill Brower - Field Program Officer

Bill manages the GlobalGiving Green initiative for projects that address climate change in a sustainable manner. He will spend considerable time overseas in 2010 evaluating the projects of GlobalGiving partner organizations, holding workshops for current and prospective project leaders, and working to make more organizations aware of opportunities with GlobalGiving. Prior to joining GlobalGiving, Bill taught English at Henan Normal University in central China for a year, worked as a chemical engineer and did a project with Engineers Without Borders in the village of Muramba in Rwanda. Bill has a Master's degree in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge and Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin.

Donna Callejon

Donna Callejon - Chief Business Officer

As CBO, Donna oversees activities designed to ensure that the GlobalGiving marketplace is valuable to players of all sizes, and that the website(s) we develop provide individual and institutional donors with a great experience. This includes development of corporate and other strategic partnerships, relationship management for major donors, and development of technology and infrastructure for globalgiving.org and over a dozen custom websites. Donna also serves on the Board of GlobalGiving UK, Women's Funding Network, and the Non-Profit Village in Montgomery County, Maryland. She previously served nine years on the Board of the Washington Area Women's Foundation (three years as Chair) and six years on the board of Business for Social Responsibility. In a prior life, Donna was a senior executive of Fannie Mae, having led the company's strategic planning, business development and international consulting efforts, and prior to 1996 ran the core business, including marketing, product development, customer technology and negotiated transactions. She holds a B.S. in Managerial Economics from UC Davis.

Kevin Conroy

Kevin Conroy - Senior Java Web Development Ninja

Kevin works on improving and developing new features of GlobalGiving's technical infrastructure and enhancing the user experience on www.globalgiving.org. 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.

Robert DuBois

Robert DuBois - Creative Manager

Robert supports GlobalGiving's marketing and media functions, including online social media strategy, graphic design, web technology, and analytics. Robert graduated from the University of Northern Colorado as a member of the President's Leadership Program with a Business Administration degree in Marketing and Finance, and minors in Music and Spanish. He studied abroad in Granada, Spain and Paris, France, and brings a diversity of experience from prior positions in Northern Colorado's Publications department, and Burns Marketing, Colorado's fifth-largest marketing-communications agency.

Eula Dyson

Eula Dyson - Controller

Eula brings many years of non profit experience to the role of Controller. After leading the initial leap from manual to computerized accounting at American Foundation for the Blind in New York City, Eula stayed on for 21 years in a mid-management position in the foundation's finance department. Her steady nature and eye for detail supported staff and management through the record keeping, reporting and annual audit processes. Eula holds a BS degree in Accounting and Business Administration from Northwestern State University of Louisiana. Her overall career experience includes governmental finance, public accounting, and small businesses where she made friends with computers as they emerged in the office space and changed how we work.

Ingrid Embree

Ingrid Embree - Director of Strategic Partnerships

Ingrid helps GlobalGiving's strategic partners achieve their philanthropic objectives. Before joining us, she was Chief Development Officer at Hispanic College Fund. She has a history of helping organizations meet their operational objectives, develop fundraising capacity, and achieve legislative victories. She has a BS in Marketing and International Management from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.

Suzanne Garza

Suzanne Garza - Office Manager

Suzanne is seasoned Office Manager responsible for making things go faster, arrive less expensively, and run more efficiently. Prior to coming to GlobalGiving she worked as the Accounting and Office Manager at The Map Network, a publisher of online and print maps for tourism bureaus and special events throughout the US. While she was there this successful start-up experienced two corporate acquisitions - first by by NAVTEQ and a year later by Nokia. Before that she worked in the non-profit sector, including as an Advertising Coordinator for the American Psychological Association and in the Membership and Finance department of the American Society for Cell Biology. Suzanne graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University with a BSFS degree in International Politics.

Marisa Glassman

Marisa Glassman - Business Development Manager

Marisa is responsible for helping facilitate new and existing business partnerships. She formerly worked in the marketing departments of both Penguin Young Readers Group and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in New York City. Before coming to GlobalGiving, Marisa received an MBA in Marketing and Sustainable Enterprise from the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School and a BSBA in Marketing and International Business from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.

John Hecklinger

John Hecklinger - Chief Program Officer

As Chief Program Officer, John leads GlobalGiving’s effort to be an ever more effective platform for grassroots social entrepreneurs and NGO partners to connect directly with funding sources. John joined GlobalGiving in October of 2005 and led our corporate partnership efforts as Business Development Director. These partnerships have driven GlobalGiving’s growth considerably and have enabled our network of projects around the world to connect with more sources of funding. Prior to joining GlobalGiving, John led partnership efforts at CARFAX Vehicle History Reports, creating a network of thousands of content providers in North America. After receiving English degrees from the University of Virginia and the University of Florida, John served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Central African Republic, teaching Literature and Linguistics at the University of Bangui.

James Krejci

James Krejci - Strategic Development

James is a seasoned entrepreneur, experienced in building organizations across Europe, the US, and the emerging markets of eastern Europe and Asia. James is President of The Emergence Group, a firm that works with the US State Department, Inter-American Development Bank, and other organizations to implement rule-of-law reforms around the world. James works part-time with GlobalGiving, and focuses on strategy development, as well as certain key client, donor, and funder relationships. From 2004 - 2008, James was CFO for GlobalGiving, where he was instrumental in establishing our financial operations, strategic planning, and capital raising activities. Earlier in his career, James held positions of Financial Director/CFO with several firms. 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. As CFO with TV3 Russia, James engaged with western institutional investors to raise $30m. James holds an MBA in Finance from the American School of International Management - Thunderbird. He speaks Russian and German.

Marc Maxson

Marc Maxson - Manager of Performance Analytics

Marc is responsible for data analysis related to projects on GlobalGiving, including monitoring and evaluating project results, and identifying success metrics for fundraising on GlobalGiving. Before joining GlobalGiving, Marc developed his data analysis expertise as a Neuroscientist at Tulane University. Previously, he was a Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia and later returned to West Africa in 2003 as a Fulbright researcher to study the impact of computers and the Internet on rural schools in Gambia, Senegal, and Ghana. Marc has a PhD in Integrated Biosciences from Penn State and a BS in Chemistry and BioChemistry from Appalachian State University.

Alison McQuade

Alison McQuade - Marketing Communications Manager

Alison is responsible for managing GlobalGiving's external and donor communications and providing support for GlobalGiving's online marketing activities. Before joining GlobalGiving, Alison worked in public affairs and consulted on a local political campaign, Lyddy for Council (Newtown, CT). Alison earned her Masters from the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, she completed her B.A. in Politics from Salve Regina University in Newport, RI. Originally from Massachusetts, Alison remains a "wicked" diehard Red Sox fan.

Manmeet Mehta

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.

Nancy Neuman

Nancy Neuman - Business Development Fellow

Nancy is a Sequoia Foundation Fellow and is working with the business development team to help expand the GlobalGiving brand through corporate partnerships and with major donors. She graduated with a B.A. from Penn and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School. Nancy worked as an investment banker on Wall St. for 12 years where she financed $500 million in public finance projects. She’s consulted in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors. Nancy has competed internationally in three sports and continues to believe that she can upset Serena in a virtual tennis match.

Michael Nolan

Michael Nolan - Manager of Data and Analytics

Michael is responsible for leveraging different sources of data at GlobalGiving including donation activity and web analytics to enhance the donor experience and increase donor retention. Before joining GlobalGiving, Michael was the Director of Market Development at NuRide, the only online ridesharing company that rewards people for sharing rides, reducing traffic, pollution and global warming. Michael was responsible for increasing ridesharing via NuRide, resulting in 20 million miles of reduced traffic and 9,000 tons of reduced emissions. Before NuRide, Michael managed and measured the customer experience at Kinkos.com, executed market research projects at Freddie Mac, and helped run the Ohio State University Center for Survey Research. Michael has degrees in political science and public policy from George Washington University.

Joan Ochi

Joan Ochi - Director of Marketing Communications

Joan is responsible for development and execution of GlobalGiving's strategies to attract and retain donors and ensure they have a superior customer experience. This includes strategic marketing planning, external communications and online marketing, public relations, product development and marketing, collateral creation, and customer service. Prior to joining GlobalGiving in 2005, she worked in finance and marketing for corporations including Fannie Mae and HP, in the U.S. and overseas, where her Foreign Service officer husband was posted on tours in Sweden and Kuwait. A native San Franciscan, Joan has an MBA from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from UC Berkeley.

Steve Rogers

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.

Justin Rupp

Justin Rupp - Systems Ninja

Justin keeps all the servers up and running at GlobalGiving and works with the rest of the team to develop new features and enhancements for the GlobalGiving site. Before coming to GlobalGiving he worked at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland where he wrote code for and helped administrate a large cluster used for scientific computation. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Kaplan University.

Jennifer Sigler

Jennifer Sigler - Senior Vice President of Operations

Jennifer is responsible for the overall functioning and efficiency of the organization, including Finance, Human Resources, Governance and Systems. She brings with her significant experience in both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining GlobalGiving, Jennifer served as the Chief Operating Officer of a youth entrepreneurship non-profit helping students from under-resourced communities start their own small businesses and gain acceptance into college. Jennifer’s other professional experience includes work in the private sector as a Management Consultant for IBM and then a Marketer for AOL. She also holds an MBA and MA of Education from Stanford.

Saima Zaman

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.