Vanessa Adams

Chief of Party for USAID/Ethiopia Agribusiness and Market Development project
ACDI/VOCA

Vanessa Adams manages the $50M USAID Agribusiness and Market Development project in Ethiopia, facilitating increased incomes for 1.5M smallholder famers and 200 companies and institutional partners. She has leveraged over $5M in investments, $50M in loans, facilitated $100M in export commodities and $80M in domestic sales. She oversaw the cost-sharing innovation fund of $14M, which resulted in 200 catalytic grants. She partners with GOE agencies and industry associations on marketing, financial and capacity building programs. She also managed the USAID West Africa Trade Hub project and consulted for Fortune 500 corporations such as Midas, Bank of America, and Cablevision.

Nicole Barnes

Vice President for Business Strategy and Communications
International Development Group, RTI International

Nicole Barnes is the Vice President, Business Strategy and Communications, for the International Development Group (IDG) at RTI International. In her 11 years with RTI she has held numerous technical and senior leadership roles. With a background in public finance, she has worked in several countries on education finance, implementing local governance support programs, urban service delivery and local economic development. Ms. Barnes has worked in international development for 19 years, including 11 years working overseas on long-term assignments. Half of her time overseas has been spent in Africa, in Uganda and South Africa. She has also worked in India, Indonesia, Montenegro and Pakistan.

Jamie Bay Nishi

Senior Director of Member Services
Devex

Jamie Bay Nishi serves as Senior Director for Member Services at Devex, a social enterprise that operates the world’s most popular international development website (www.devex.com). She manages a team that supports more than 1,000 organizations globally and who assist international development practitioners in tracking funding opportunities and identifying skilled professionals to complete projects in the field. Before joining the company in 2008, she completed her master’s degree in conflict analysis and resolution at George Mason University. Prior to that, she spent nearly three years as marketing associate and health care consultant for the Advisory Board Company. Jamie also served as an intern in the U.S. State Department’s Office of South Central Europe. She holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the College of William & Mary. Jamie has lived in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, France, Germany and now resides in the Washington DC area.

Kassahun Bekele

Co-owner, Founder and General Manager
Agricultural Commodity Supply (ACOS) Ethiopia Plc.

Mr. Kassahun Bekele is co-owner, founder and General Manager of ACOS (Agricultural Commodity Supply) Ethiopia Plc. ACOS Ethiopia is a leading company exporting beans and chickpea to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Mr. Kassahun holds B.Sc. degree in plant science from ex-Alemaya College (now Haramaya University) Addis Ababa University and M.Sc. degree in Entomology from The University of Reading. Mr. Kassahun has served in the Ministry of State Farms as an expert and leadership positions for 17 years. He also served in the private sector as Manager of Makobu Plc. Makobu is an exclusive agent of Monsanto and one of the distributors of agro-chemicals. Mr. Kassahun has more than 16 years experiences both in imports and exports of wide ranging agricultural related inputs & commodities. Mr. Kassahun is a member of many business and professional associations.

Esther Benjamin

CEO for Africa Operations
Laureate Education, Inc.

Esther Benjamin is CEO for Africa Operations for Laureate Education, Inc., the global leader in providing access to high quality, innovative institutions of higher education. She is currently also CEO of Monash South Africa, Laureate’s first initiative in Africa. Esther served in President Obama’s Administration as Peace Corps Associate Director for Global Operations. She was a Vice President at the International Youth Foundation and Executive Director for Resource Development at the International Partnership for Microbicides. She worked in the private sector for Grant Thornton. Appointed by President Clinton, she was a White House Fellow. Esther began her career in the United Nations, serving as a humanitarian affairs officer in Africa.

Dr. Iris Breutz

Head of Program, Support to the African Governance Architecture programme
Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Dr. Iris Breutz, attorney-at-Law, studied law in Hamburg/Germany and Lausanne/Switzerland. Besides her work as a practicing lawyer, she has 15 years of experience in working on human rights, judicial reform and democratization programs in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. For the past seven years, she lived and worked in Sudan, Tanzania and Ethiopia. Within the framework of the cooperation between Germany and the African Union, she leads the GIZ Program “Support to the African Governance Architecture” aiming at advancing human rights and good governance on the African continent. She also worked in Vietnam, Cambodia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Liberia and Kenya.

Volkan Cakir

Director, Africa regional office
RTI International

As director of RTI International's Africa regional office, Volkan Cakir supports RTI business development and client relations and oversees all regional support teams for RTI’s program activities in Africa. He has worked in more than 10 African countries during the past 15 years to create policy change that achieves better development outcomes on the ground. Cakir has more than 15 years of experience in health sector reform, decentralization, sustainability, strategic planning, health systems strengthening, management and information systems, and supply chain operations. He has built effective working relationships with U.S. Agency for International Development and European Union missions and host country counterparts across Africa.

Joyce Chew

Deputy Director of Recruiting
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Joyce Chew joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in October of 2012. She is the Deputy Director of Recruiting and leads the global recruiting strategy. She also manages the recruiting efforts for the Executive Office, Communications, Global Policy & Advocacy and Country Offices in China, Europe, India and Africa. Prior to joining the foundation, Joyce worked for a number of global consulting firms in a variety of roles in human resources, operations and management consulting.

Julius Court

Acting Country Director
DFID Ethiopia

Julius Court is Acting Head of Office for DFID Ethiopia as of May 2014. DFID Ethiopia is DFID’s largest bilateral programme. Julius has worked in Nigeria, South Sudan and in DFID Headquarters in London prior to his current role. He has also worked for the ODI, a development think tank in London, and the UN.

Munir Duri

CEO
Kifiya Financial Technology

Munir Duri is founder and CEO of Kifiya Financial Technology PLC, a digital finance and payment service provider. Kifiya launched an integrated G2C service in partnership with MCIT, unifying the utility bills of 1 million people. The branchless banking services enables MFIs to provide access at reach for PSNP beneficiaries to receive their subsidies electronically and also open saving accounts. The eVoucher system is being piloted by the WFP to deliver eVouchers for their beneficiaries, in place of food subsidies, that can be redeemed at participating stores. Mr. Duri previously founded several enterprises, including African Bamboo PLC and Global Computing Systems PLC.

H.E. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is currently the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. He took up his post in November 2012. Prior to this he served as Minister of Health from October 2005 to November 2012. Dr. Tedros also served in a number of expert and leadership positions within the Ministry of Health at both federal and regional levels, including the positions of Minister of State and as Head of the Tigray Regional Health Bureau. First joining the Ministry in 1986, Dr. Tedros has dedicated his entire career to public service and scientific research, focusing on health concerns.

Desta Gebremichael Gebrekidan

Department Head of Environmental Rehabilitation and Agricultural Development
Relief Society of Tigray (REST)

Desta is head of the Environmental Rehabilitation and Agriculture Development Program at Relief Society of Tigray (REST) in Ethiopia. He manages REST’s partnership with Oxfam and the World Food Programme within the R4 Initiative, working to empower the most food insecure households with integrated risk management tools, including drought insurance, risk reduction, credit, and savings. Desta has worked with REST since 1998 and coordinates the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the organization’s natural resource management, agricultural development, climate change adaptation, renewable energy, and livestock programs. He holds an MA in physical geography and a BA in soil and water conservation.

Kary Hintz-Tate

Deputy Chief of Mission; Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Economic Commission for Africa
U.S. Mission to the African Union; UNECA

Kary Hintz-Tate is a career member of the Foreign Service for the U.S. Department of State. She is currently the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to the African Union (USAU) and the U.S Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This is her second posting in Addis Ababa, as she previously served as the economic/commercial officer at the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia. Most recently, Kary was the Africa Bureau’s UN General Assembly coordinator and worked in the Office of Southern African Affairs in Washington, D.C. She has also served in Mexico and South Africa. Kary is an economic-coned officer with a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Thunderbird, The School of Global Management in Arizona, USA. She worked as a financial analyst for a litigation consulting firm prior to joining the State Department. She studied Spanish and foreign affairs as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia in Virginia, USA.

Cullen Hughes

Deputy Office Chief, Office of Economic Growth and Transformation
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Ethiopia

Cullen Hughes is a career Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He has been focused on USAID / Ethiopia’s $250 million Feed the Future program since 2011. Since 2006 Mr. Hughes has served with USAID in agriculture and private enterprise development positions in Ethiopia, Macedonia, Washington D.C., and Cambodia. Before USAID, he worked as a community development/agriculture volunteer in the U.S. Peace Corps in Thailand, a business strategy consultant in Denver, Colorado, and as a local economic development representative in the Denver International Airport Area Development Authority and in the Germany State of Brandenburg Economic Development Corporation.

Michael Igoe

Senior Reporter
Devex

Michael Igoe is a Global Development Reporter for Devex. Based in Washington, he covers US foreign aid and emerging trends in international development and humanitarian policy. Michael draws on his experience as both a journalist and international development practitioner in Central Asia to develop stories from an insider's perspective.

Bahati Muriga Jacob

Female Food Hero (Mama Shujaa wa Chakula) of the year from Tanzania

Bahati is a farmer, widow, and mother of three from Mwanza, Tanzania. In May 2014, Bahati was announced national female food hero of the year on live national TV amongst 1000s of other nominated women. Oxfam’s Female Food Hero (FFH) Initiative captures the challenges faced and contributions made by female farmers within their society and communities; the media show reaches an audience of 25 million and creates a platform to improve policy and appreciation for women food producers. Bahati grows maize, sugar cane, and peanuts and desires to own more land. She educates women groups on the impact of climate change and views women economic empowerment as a way to end poverty and gender violence.

Peter J. Joyce

Senior Researcher; General Manager
RTI International; Global Center on Youth Employment

Peter J. Joyce is a senior researcher within RTI’s Education and Workforce Division and International Development Group and serves as the General Manager of a new Global center on Youth Employment. He is a recognized expert on the grand challenges associated with the evolving global labor market and youth employment and prosperity. Dr. Joyce’s work focuses on researching, evaluating, and building innovative practices that link education and work. Dr. Joyce holds degrees in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Alabama and a doctorate in education and social policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Bornwell Katande

Acting Head
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ethiopia

Mr Bornwell Kantande is the Acting Representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representation in Ethiopia. He currently leads the operation in Ethiopia, the second largest operation in Africa, where the influx of the South Sudanese population has reached over 183,000 people over a period of eight months and the refugee population country-wide is over 600,000.

Mr Kantande has worked for UNHCR for over 26 years, both in the field as well as at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Among the challenging refugee situations he has dealt with include complex and emergency operations in Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Mozambique particularly in the areas of programme and operation coordination with government, NGOs and Donors. Mr Kantande was Head of the Programme Management Training Unit for four years at UNHCR Headquarters and delivered various trainings for UNHCR staff. He is a university graduate with major in Computer Science and Statistics. He worked for two years as a systems analyst and designed programmes for a Malawi before joining the United Nations.

Qaiser Khan

Program Leader for Ethiopia
World Bank

Qaiser Khan is a Lead Economist working on Africa. He has worked on Social Protection and basic services for the poor at the World Bank since 1989, all over Africa, Middle East and Asia and has written considerably on the subject. He is currently Program Leader for Ethiopia covering Social Protection, Education, Health, Governance Urban Development and Resilience/ Disaster Risk Management.Before joining the World Bank, he taught Economics in the USA, worked for a management consulting firm out of New York and for an NGO in Bangladesh. He has a PhD and two Masters Degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA and a Bachelors degree from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, USA.

Eluka serves as the advocacy and campaign lead for the Oxfam Female Food Hero (FFH) and GROW Initiatives in Tanzania, focused on the impact of climate change, especially for small scale food producers. She is passionate about social justice and gender equality, demonstrated in her history of grassroots activism and community mobilizing. She co-founded the Black Campus Progressive at Hampton University in the USA and spent years working with the Tanzania Gender Networking program. To date, she continues to coordinate the Young Feminist Forum in Tanzania working with sex workers and LGBTI groups. She holds a bachelor degree from Hampton University and is pursuing her PhD at the University of Dar es salaam.

Célia Kiene

Recruiter
Coffey

Célia was a recruiter with DAI’s business development unit before joining Coffey. In international development, she has managed the end to end recruitment process in support to proposal managers and built a network of consultants and advisers in target sectors and countries of operations, for a range of donors including DFID, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank and the European Commission. Prior international development, Célia worked as a recruiter and HR officer in the private sector for innovative industries such as microelectronics and aerospace. When at Airbus, she worked on a worldwide one-year recruitment campaign across four countries, as part of a project team tasked with recruiting talent from across the globe, including 400 individuals for the department she was recruiting for.Célia has also participated in internal staff mobility events for large matrix-type organizations, advising internal staff on best practices in employment searches. She holds a master’s degree in human resources management with a specialisation in HR advisory services from the Business Administration Institute of Social Sciences University of Toulouse, France, and a bachelor’s degree in law from the same university.

Takusaburo Kimura

Senior Representative
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Ethiopia

Takusaburo Kimura is currently the senior representative of JICA Ethiopia Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This is his first posting in overseas office in Africa region. Most recently, Takusaburo was a deputy director in charge of coordination of FAO related work in Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Japan. He has also served for official development assistant work in several places, including Indonesia branch office, Agricultural development department and local training center of JICA. He worked as an overseas volunteer in South Sulawesi in Indonesia for two years and helped farmers and extension officers to improve productivity of ground nuts and other vegetables. He studied Agronomy as an undergraduate at West Virginia University in USA.

Tibebu Koji

Program Coordinator, Ethiopia Water for Agriculture Program
Oxfam

Mr. Tibebu Koji is the Program Coordinator for Oxfam’s Water for Agriculture Program in Ethiopia. Tibebu has worked for Oxfam since 2008 and has a wide-range of experience in areas of multipurpose food security, water development, irrigation and horticulture, natural resource management, and environmental protection. He previously served in management, technical advisory, policy development, and community organization capacities at the Rift Valley Children and Women Development Association, Oromia Irrigation and Water Development Authority, Oromia Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Bureau, and Ministry of Agricultural and Environmental Protection. He holds a Master of Science from Hohai University, China in Water Resources Management and Hydraulic Engineering and a Bachelor of Science from Harromaya University of Agriculture, Ethiopia.

Hellen Kong’ong’o

Regional Director, Human Resource
RTI International

Hellen currently serves as RTI International’s Regional Director. Hellen has over 13 years of senior level HR experience working within diverse multicultural settings in both the profit and not for profit sector in the Africa Region. She is currently engaged with RTI International for close to 3 years now, serving as the Senior HR Generalist and Advisor for RTI’s Regional Office supporting Sub Sahara Africa. She provides strategic HR and operational HR program implementation support. In her role she also guides on HR policy interpretation and quality control for both the Africa Region HR teams and Project HR teams to ensure that HR activities in the Region achieve the Regional Office goals of efficiency, effectiveness and compliance.

Raj Kumar

President & Editor-in-Chief
Devex

Raj Kumar is the founding President & Editor-in-Chief of Devex, the media platform for the global development community. A social entrepreneur and digital media executive, he's been a part of nine presidential campaigns and was a co-founder of a successful financial information company. Raj saw the world-shaping potential of Devex while a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School and promptly dropped out to build it. He has been profiled in Forbes, the Financial Times, Foreign Policy, and the Washington Post, where Devex was called the Bloomberg of foreign aid. Raj is also an active investor in ground-breaking startups, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Clinton Global Initiative, and chair of the World Economic Forum's humanitarian council.

Geoffrey Lairumbi

Senior Technical Specialist
ICF International

Dr. Lairumbi Geoffrey a senior technical specialist with ICF International, and the associate director for the sub national capacity building and systems strengthening for the MEASURE Evaluation PIMA project in Kenya. As the associate director for capacity building and systems strengthening, Dr. Lairumbi provides technical leadership and direction to a team of advisors and regional M&E associates implementing M&E capacity building and systems strengthening activities at the sub national level. Lairumbi has more than 13 years’ of experience in health systems strengthening, capacity building, data demand and use, monitoring and evaluation and operations research. He has conducted health system performance assessments with a focus on capacity building, data demand and use in policy and practice, and health systems governance. He holds a first degree in anthropology, master in health care provision and a PhD in public health.

Jeff Leitner

Senior Director of Business Development and Communications
Engility International Development

Jeff Leitner has worked in business development and communications for 30 years across a range of government contracting implementers. At Engility International Development he leads capture and proposal development for new business opportunities and also directs communications efforts. He has a diverse background that includes NGO project management and policy development in the animal protection field and technical analysis and design in aerospace engineering. He has a passion for the Ethiopian culture as the adopted father of a seven-year-old boy born in Hosanna (Wachemo), Ethiopia.

Dr. Beryl Levinger

Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Public Administration Program
Monterey Institute of International Studies, a graduate school of Middlebury College

Dr. Beryl Levinger’s academic expertise and teaching focus on capacity development for organizations, coalitions, partnerships, networks, and emerging systems. She also works extensively on the design and assessment of development initiatives. She previously held significant leadership positions, including: president of AFS Intercultural Programs; Senior Vice President (chief operating officer of CARE); and senior adviser to Save the Children’s president. Beryl is a former vice chair and a founder of InterAction, the coalition of 175 US-based international nongovernmental organizations focused on the world’s poor. She has written extensively on capacity building and development. Her books include Togetherness: Intersectoral Partnering in Latin America; Critical Transitions: Human Capacity Development Across the Lifespan; and Nutrition, Health, and Education for All. She serves as facilitator, lead trainer, presenter, and consultant for major development program actors.

Julie Lillejord

Special Assistant to the UN Resident Coordinator in Ethiopia
United Nations

Julie has an M.A. in International Relations and extensive international work experience from both field and headquarters within humanitarian assistance and international development. She currently holds the position as Special Assistant to the UN Resident Coordinator in Ethiopia, and has previously worked in UNOCHA New York, UNICEF Tanzania, IOM Indonesia, and the Norwegian Embassy in Albania.

Willimena Asekon Lokalei

Livelihoods Coordinator-Caritas Lodwar
Catholic Diocese of Lodwar

Willimena currently works with the Catholic Diocese of Lodwar in Community Development and livelihoods programme as the coordinator for the last 10 years. She has trained in Social Development work and attained a diploma in Development Education in South Africa. She participated in short courses on Sphere Standards, LEGGS, DRR and CMDRR.

She worked in the Turkana community and initiated and implemented various projects for the past ten years. These include the Turkana Drought Resilience Enhancement project funded by CRS between 2013 Sep to 2014 December, Agriculture and livestock projects funded by Friends of Turkana and Aidlink between Jan 2011 to Dec 2014.

For the past ten years, she has also undertaken projects on livestock management and agriculture along Turkwel River, and fisheries in Kerio. She has also undertaken projects on basketry making for resilience building along the Lake Region and income generating activities in the 25 parishes within the Diocese of Lodwar. Likewise, Willimena has been participating in lobbying and advocacy activities within the parishes in the above components.

Mirafe Marcos

Chief of Staff & Senior Director-Special Projects
Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency

Mirafe Gebriel Marcos is Chief of Staff & Senior Director of Special Projects at the Agricultural Transformation Agency. In this capacity, Mr. Marcos' primary responsibility is increasing the bandwidth of the CEO in such a way as to extend the CEO’s capabilities and impact. Mr. Marcos' responsibilities span across strategic, policy-related, and operational issues, with oversight responsibilities over all programs and support teams. Across all of these areas, Mr. Marcos provides strategic thought partnership, management, operational oversight, and coordination between internal and external actors. Mr. Marcos is the primary point of contact for the CEO with a range of key stakeholders across sectors, particularly with key Federal and Regional Government bodies and Development Partners. Mr. Marcos is also responsible for driving a portfolio of specific activities for the ATA, including overseeing the incubation of new program areas and serving as the focal person for high priority and high-profile government led projects such as the Agriculture Growth Program (AGP).

Muluneh Wolde Mariam

Acting Director of Early Warning and Response Directorate
Ministry of Agriculture, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Mr. Muluneh Wolde Mariam is Acting Director of Early Warning and Response Directorate, situated within the Disaster Management and Food Security Sector of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture. Mr. Muluneh is an Ethiopian with a Master’s Degree in Environmental and Natural Resource Management from Philippines Open University and a Bachelor Degree in Management from Alfa University, Ethiopia. Mr. Muluneh has served within the Early Warning and Response Directorate for over 40 years in both technical and senior leadership positions.

Mike McDonagh

Head of Office
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) Ethiopia

Mike McDonagh, head of OCHA, Ethiopia, is an Irish national. He is an aid worker since 1983, when he started out in Ethiopia. He spent over 20 years with Concern an Irish NGO, and has just completed 10 years with OCHA. He has worked in more than 20 countries. He has a BSc Economics degree (LSE) and an MA in International Politics and Security Studies degree from Bradford UK.

Pierre M'Pele-Kilebou

Representative to Ethiopia
World Health Organization (WHO)

Dr Pierre M’Pele-Kilebou, MD, MPH, PhD is a public health professional, HIV/AIDS and tropical disease specialist, and WHO Country Representative to Ethiopia. Dr M’Pele has an extensive international career working for various UN agencies and international organizations. He led the UNAIDS Inter-country Team for West and Central Africa and was the UNAIDS Country Director for Nigeria. He joined WHO in 2007 and has performed as WHO Country Representative in Equatorial Guinea, Togo and Ethiopia. Dr M’Pele obtained post doctorate degrees from the University of Paris and was a lecturer at the Institute of Social and Economic Studies at Pantheon-Sorbonne University. He is the author and co-author of numerous books and has published more than 100 scholarly and scientific articles.

David Munyoro

Chief Recruitment Coordination Officer
African Development Bank

Development professional with over 15 years’ experience in differing roles in small, mid to large sized development organisations. All round project management experience of donor funded work at international, regional and national project levels. Past roles as Human Resources Manager, Recruitment and Selection Manager, South Africa Country Coordinator; Regional Programme Officer; Project Officer; agricultural consultant, Leadership Development Manager and currently Chief Talent Search Officer at the African Development Bank Group. Experience of Eastern and Southern African countries, the United Kingdom and now based in Cote d’Ivoire.

Peter Wafula Nasokho

Technical Specialist
ICF International

Mr. Nasokho has more than 15 years of experience in monitoring and evaluation (M&E), data management, analysis, and reporting. He has worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF), Management Sciences for Health (MSH), and Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International in various capacities. His experience includes evaluating pilot programs in education and health care, survey data analysis, research design, and sampling methodology. He also has worked on cross-sectional and cohort studies, and program evaluation in resource-limited settings. Mr. Nasokho has unique qualifications that include data collection, Data analysis and Survey Research Techniques.

Francis Qamara

Land Use Management Programme Coordinator
Catholic Diocese of Mbulu Development Department

Mr. Francis Qamara is the Land Use Management Programme Coordinator for the Catholic Diocese of Mbulu Development Department, where he has worked since September 2001. His core areas of work include community sensitization on soil conservation through use of contours and terraces, protection of natural forests and planting of environmentally friendly trees around water sources and homes.

Mr. Qamara also works as soil and water conservation project officer with AACES (Australia Africa Community Engagement Scheme) and IWRM projects in Karatu District, mainly coordinating watershed management, environmental conservation campaigns and food security. He holds a MSc in Applied Development Studies from the University of Reading, UK.

Donough Ryan

East Africa Regional Office (EARO) Emergency Coordinator
Catholic Relief Services

Donough Ryan has more than a decade of international experience in development and emergency programming and response. Donough currently serves as the CRS East Africa Regional Office Emergency Coordinator working in the CRS Ethiopia Country Program. Prior to his work for CRS, Donough worked with other Caritas agencies including Trocaire. He previously served as the Trocaire Sudan/South Sudan Country Director from 2011-2013 and Global Emergency Response Technical Advisor. He has experience working throughout the Horn of Africa, including Somalia, Uganda and Kenya, as well as other emergency response assignments in Pakistan, Egypt and Haiti. Donough holds a Masters in Conflict Response from the University of Bradford in the UK.

Périn Saint Ange

Regional Director, East and Southern Africa
IFAD

Over twenty five years technical and managerial experience in international development in UN agencies (FAO and IFAD), and in Government (Seychelles). Senior level experience and leadership roles in multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary teams in more than twenty five countries in Africa, Asia, North Africa, Australia and Eastern Europe in the field of development economics, agriculture and natural resource management and in a broad array of technical disciplines (agricultural economics, financial analysis of investment financing, rural finance, irrigation development, community based development, artisanal fisheries, livestock, and on cross-cutting issues such as gender, institutional development, rural poverty reduction, and food security). Team Leader in FAO Investment Centre responsible for Formulation /Appraisal of large investment projects for World Bank and engaged as Economist / Financial Analyst in a large number of missions.

Haddis Tadesse

Representative to Ethiopia and the African Union
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Haddis joined the foundation in October of 2007 to work as a Special Assistant to Raj Shah and the Agricultural Development team. In June 2009, he joined Global Development’s Program Advocacy as Policy and External Relations Officer with responsibility to develop and manage partner relationship, particularly in Africa. He is currently the foundation’s representative to Ethiopia and the African Union. Prior to joining the foundation, he worked as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels. He attended the University of Washington (MPA).

Mefthe Tadesse

Ethiopia Country Director
TechnoServe

Mefthe Tadesse serves as TechnoServe’s Country Director in Ethiopia, where she is responsible for leading the implementation of various value chain projects including coffee, barley and maize, and for providing strategic leadership and capacity development of her staff. For the past 8 years, Mefthe has led country-level platforms and managed large-scale value chain programs funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Nestlé. Previously, she managed the country office of BBC Media Action in Ethiopia and, on behalf of Ernst & Young, developed privatization strategies for Ethiopian public enterprises and business process improvements for the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia.

Kelly Tobin

Recruitment Manager
Engility International Development

With over 10 years of experience in business development and recruitment, Kelly Tobin has demonstrated value in areas such as: program management, proposal capture & development, business process improvement, research, report writing, and sourcing top quality SMEs from around the globe. As Recruitment Manager for Engilty, she leverages her prior expertise and passion for business growth to lead a dynamic, results-driven team embedded within the Business Development Division, which under her leadership, sources the most qualified candidates to enable continued success at winning USAID projects. Kelly is a passionate networker, diligent relationship and consensus builder, and a flexible problem solver. Her passions, skills, and leadership extend beyond the walls of work where she fosters community as a yoga instructor with diverse populations in the Washington, D.C. area. She holds a Master’s in Public Affairs and International Relations from the University of Massachusetts and has published articles on topics within international relations and has participated in previous DevEx events on panels and in interviews. In her spare time she loves applying her professional skills to help friends, colleagues and beyond with their CV’s and general job searching. She has traveled and worked abroad in various countries and speaks Japanese.

Leopoldo Villegas

Senior Technical Specialist
ICF International

Dr. Villegas is a Global Health strategist with 20+ years of experience in clinical research, health care education, program coordination, and implementation of impact interventions. He has extensive knowledge on operational research and its translation into public health policies. His key areas of expertise include: infectious and tropical diseases (ITD): implementation, operational research, control and elimination; M&E systems in malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and vaccine-preventable childhood diseases; strategic planning and project evaluation in neglected ID; and capacity building in epidemiology of ITD and epidemiological methods. He developed national and regional strategic plans for national control programs in Asia, South America and Africa.

Kate Warren

Senior Director and Editor
Devex

With over a decade of international recruitment experience, Kate Warren is the Senior Director and Editor, Careers and Recruiting at Devex- the leading career and recruitment resource to the international development community. As senior director, she oversees Devex recruitment and career products and services and provides support and guidance to the human resource departments of major funding agencies, NGOs and consulting firms that make development happen. As editor, Kate guides the strategy for career and recruiting insights content across Devex. She also authors a popular career advice column, Career Matters, for professionals working in global development.

Dennis Weller assumed leadership of USAID Ethiopia in 2012. USAID Ethiopia is one of the largest USAID missions in Africa and is a focus country for presidential initiatives covering: HIV and AIDS, malaria, child survival, agricultural growth, food security and nutrition, climate change and energy. The mission’s portfolio also has a robust basic education program and activities that promote good governance and prevent conflicts. The mission supports regional initiatives with African Union whose seat is located in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa. Mr. Weller experience with USAID includes postings in Burma, Pakistan, Kenya, Iraq, Ghana and Rwanda. He began his career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia.

Anthony Wolimbwa

Research and Capacity Development Coordinator
Climate Action Network-Uganda

Anthony has coordinated Climate Action Network-Uganda (CAN-U) since 2011 and contributed to the launch of the Adaptation Finance Accountability Initiative (AFAI) in Uganda together with Oxfam. AFAI monitors and strengthens accountability for climate adaptation finance from global, regional, and national sources down to local level. Anthony has 14 years of experience in the civil society sector, including in research and policy analysis on natural resource governance with the Advocates Coalition for Environment and Development (ACODE) and on climate change adaptation and resilience with the Eco Development Foundation (ECODEF). He holds an undergraduate degree in Environmental Management and post-graduate diploma in Environmental Journalism and Communication both from Makerere University.

Monique van Zijl

Behind the Brands Campaign Leader
Oxfam

Monique is the global lead for Oxfam’s Behind the Brands campaign. The campaign assesses the social and environmental policies of the 10 biggest food and beverage companies in the world and encourages them to take greater responsibility for the impacts of their agricultural supply chains. Monique has over 10 years of experience in the non-profit sector both in Africa and globally, specializing in issues of economic development. Monique is experienced in human rights advocacy, public policy engagement, campaigning, and livelihood development programmes. More recently, she has worked as a Policy Advisor for Oxfam, specializing in the links between business and poverty.