The Fistula Foundation Board of Directors

Abaynesh Asrat, Director

Abaynesh Asrat is grateful to have grown up in Ethiopia in a family that upheld the values of health and well-being for oneself, one's family and one's community. Ms. Asrat is active in a myriad of cultural and charitable organizations including the International Immigrants Foundation, Project Humanity for Ethiopia, and the American Art And Design Museum. She is currently serving as president of the Coalition of Ethiopian Women for Mutual Support (CEWMS).

Ato Tekalign Gedamu, Director (Honorary)

Ato Tekalign Gedamu is Chair for the Board of Trustees of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital and is a recognized expert in development. Born in Ethiopia, Mr Gedamu has a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard. He worked initially with the United Nations in New York, before moving to Addis Ababa where he served on the UN's Economic Commission for Africa as an Economic Affairs Officer. Mr Gedamu has held a variety of high level posts with the Government of Ethiopia, the Development Bank of Ethiopia, the African Development Bank in Cote d'Ivoire and the Bank of Abyssinia. He is currently on the board of the Canadian-based Foundation for International Training and on the board of the Foundation Against HIV/Aids in Africa, based in Maryland.

Kate Grant, Director (Ex-officio)

Kate was appointed to the role as Executive Director of the Fistula Foundation in 2005. Prior to this, she worked as Vice President for Nonprofit Programs at Network for Good, the internet's largest philanthropy portal. Prior to joining Network for Good, Ms. Grant was engaged in advocating for a strong United States role in international cooperation. She served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee Staff working for Chairman Lee Hamilton, and during the Clinton Administration as the Special Assistant and Deputy Chief of Staff to USAID Administrator Brian Atwood. In addition, she served as a consultant to USAID's Mission in Tanzania, the Rockefeller Foundation, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, and the Women's Funding Network. She holds an MPA from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School and a BS from the University of California at Berkeley. Ms. Grant has served on several boards, including the Governing Board of Graduate Alumni of Princeton University.

Deborah Harris, Director

Deborah Harris has held civic leadership positions in Charlotte, North Carolina, regionally and nationally. She is currently President of the Charlotte Woman of the Year, which annually recognizes Charlotte's most outstanding woman leader in service to the Charlotte, Mecklenburg community. Ms. Harris serves on the Board of Directors of the following organizations: World Vision U.S., Seattle, WA; the National Advisory Council of the Arnold Palmer Hospital Foundation, Orlando, Florida; and Charlotte Women of Vision.

Kassahun Kebede, Chairman

Kassahun Kebede is founder and managing partner of New York-based hedge fund, PANTON Capital Group. Prior to founding PANTON, Mr. Kebede served in senior positions at Deutsche Bank, including head of European Fixed Income Derivatives as well as head of Global Equity Derivatives. His Wall Street experience also includes Credit Derivatives and Structured Products responsibilities at Merrill Lynch and Bankers Trust respectively. Mr. Kebede has a BSEE from Marquette University and holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Cleopatra Kiros, Secretary/Treasurer

Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Cleopatra Kiros came to the United States in 1986, and has been active in African women's issues ever since. She holds a degree in accounting from San Francisco State University. She, her husband and their two children make their home in the Bay Area.

Linda Levee Paul, Director

Linda Levee Paul received her Bachelors of Science degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago. In addition to a long career in high-tech and medical marketing communications, Ms. Paul has served on the boards of Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo, California, the South Peninsula Hebrew Day School in Sunnyvale, California, Chabad of Greater South Bay in Palo Alto, California, The New Shul of Scottsdale, Arizona and as president of Congregation Pardes Yisroel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her love of the hospital came about after a visit to Ethiopia in 2002. She currently serves as Director of Marketing for Mesa United Way in Mesa, Arizona.

Allan Rosenfield, MD, Director

Allan Rosenfield received a BA from Harvard College and an MD degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. Following completion of training in obstetrics and gynecology in 1966, Dr. Rosenfield spent one year as an instructor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital in Nigeria. He then joined the Population Council, serving for six years in Thailand as Medical Advisor for Family Planning and Maternal and Child Health to the Ministry of Public Health, and as representative of the Population Council. In 1975, Dr. Rosenfield moved to Columbia University, where he became the founding director of the Heilbrunn Center for Population and Family Health. Since 1986 he has been Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health and DeLamar Professor of Public Health.

C. Stephen Saunders, Director

Steve Saunders is a trusts and estates lawyer who specializes in charitable planning. He and his wife Pat, who is Australian, live in Austin, Texas where both of them have been active in civic and charitable matters. Steve has served on the Boards of the Austin Community Foundation (and was President in 2006), his parents' family foundation, and several other organizations based in Austin. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin (B.A. History, '75, J.D. '80) and serves on the University's Development Board and the Gift Planning Advisory Council. He is a frequent speaker at State Bar of Texas seminars and has done public interest work in the Texas Legislature.

Gerald Shefren, MD, Director

Gerald Shefren is an obstetrician-gynecologist with over 25 years of clinical practice. He is a Clinical Professor and Chief of the General Gynecology Division of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine and is the Vice President of Ambulatory Care for Stanford University Hospital and Clinics.

Mary Tadesse, Director

Mary Tadesse brings a wealth of advocacy experience to the Fistula Foundation, having served on the boards of the Hamlin Fistula Welfare and Research Trust, the Central Examination Board of the United Nations, the Council of African Advisers to the World Bank and the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children in Africa. A graduate of London University, she served as Vice-Minister of Education and Culture in the Ethiopian Government and Chief of the African Training and Research Center for Women in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Ms. Tadesse is co-author of African Women and Development with Margaret Snyder, and is currently working on an autobiography. She remains active in Ethiopian women's groups in the United States.

Robert Tessler, Esq., Director

Robert Tessler is a partner in the Manhattan law firm Toberoff, Tessler & Schochet. He has served as Chairman of the Essex County chapter of the ACLU, Chairman of the Board of the National Music Theater Network, and County Committeeman of the New Jersey Democratic Party.

Whitney Tilson, Director

Writer and investor Whitney Tilson received an MBA with high distinction from the Harvard Business School, where he was elected a Baker Scholar (top 5% of his class). Prior to starting Tilson Capital Partners, he spent five years studying the competitiveness of inner cities and inner-city-based companies nationwide with Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter. Mr. Tilson and Professor Porter founded the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, of which Mr. Tilson was Executive Director. Before business school, he was a founding member of Teach for America, the national teacher corps.

Linda Tripp, Director

Linda is the first woman Vice President in the World Vision global partnership. In this capacity she represented World Vision Canada's Relief and Development work to the government, other aid organizations, and served on several coalitions and boards, including the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC). She chaired the Women's Commission that developed the first Gender Policy for the World Vision Partnership and continues to champion the cause of the women and the Girl Child. Linda started World Vision Canada's Development Education program, to increase donor and public awareness and understanding of poverty issues. She has traveled extensively, witnessing first hand the work on the ground, attending international and UN conferences and speaking to various publics across Canada. She was appointed Vice President of Advocacy and Government Relations in 1998. In 2003 she was named Vice President Public Affairs providing oversight to Advocacy and Education, Public Relations, and Church Relations.

Larry William, MD, Director

Dr. Larry William received a BA degree from Columbia College and an MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is board-certified in both internal medicine and medical oncology, and has practiced privately for 20 years. He is currently Medical Director for Pacific Partners Management Services, which manages the care of about 200,000 people in different HMOs and medical groups. Prior to joining PPMSI, Dr. William served as Medical Director for Foundation Health Preferred Administrators, where he developed innovative managed care systems and directed utilization review activities for the comapny's 200,000 members.

The Fistula Foundation Staff

Anne Ferguson, Operations Director

Anne Ferguson moved with her husband from Scotland to Silicon Valley in 2000 and joined the Fistula Foundation in late 2003. She has earned an MA in English & Modern History from St. Andrews University and an HR qualification from the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development in the UK. Working with the Fistula Foundation is her first employment in the United States.

Kate Grant, Executive Director

(bio above)

Terry Rodriguez, Donor Relations Manager

Terry Rodriguez comes to the Fistula Foundation with 17 years of customer service experience. In 2004 she left her job as a Purchasing Agent to work part-time for the Fistula Foundation so she could better assist in her children's education. Ms. Rodriguez was the team captain for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life in 2004 and is an active member helping the fight against cancer. She, her husband and their three children make their home in Silicon Valley.