Speakers' Biographies
Listening to Africa
Shade Bembatoum-Young
Shade Bembatoum-Young is the Founder and Executive Director of the African Sustainable Small Enterprise Export Development Foundation (ASSEED).
Paul Mugambwa
Paul Mugambwa is the current Chairman of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority. Besides being the Chairman of Kyagalanyi Coffee Ltd., he is the majority shareholder and the Chairman of Nanga Farm Limited, the largest colonial coffee plantation in the country. He was also elected the coffee man of Mukono district and received the award for being the best coffee farmer, by the area Rotary Club.
Kojo Nnamdi
Kojo Nnamdi is the host of "The Kojo Nnamdi Show," the weekday public affairs program on WAMU-FM 88.5 and the popular "Evening Exchange," seen on WHUT-TV. He was cited for an "Excellence in Broadcasting" award, but the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1993.
Mr. Nnamdi served as News Editor and News Director at WHUR-FM radio in Washington, D.C. from 1973 to 1985. In 1985, he began hosting "Evening Exchange." Kojo is known to be insistent on diversity both among his topics and his guests. On this program, Africa and Asia are discussed as often as Europe, and minority opinions are offered on all issues.
Mr. Nnamdi was honored by being named Washingtonian of the Year by the Washington Magazine in January 2006. He has been chosen by the Librarian of Congress to serve as a Trustee at the Library of Congress' Folklife Center.
Mr. Nnamdi was born in Guyana and is an active member of GUYAID, an organization devoted to helping children in the Caribbean nation of Guyana. Kojo attended McGill University in Montreal, Canada and Federal City College in Washington, D.C.
Jabulani Ntshangase
Jabulani Ntshangase is the owner of Stellenbosch, South Africa-based Thabani wine company. He serves on the board of several companies. He is also a recognised acclaimed wine connoisseur and serves on the board of the South African Wine Trust. Over the years Jabulani played an influential part in establishing several popular brands locally and internationally. He was also the founder and is the majority shareholder of Thabani Wines, the first true black owned wine producer in South Africa.
Louis Okaingni Okingni
Louis Okaingni Okingni is a farmer in Côte d'Ivoire and is involved with the Cocoa Producers Farmer Field School and the Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP). The STCP is a public-private partnership between industry, producers, researchers, government agencies, public sector institutions and conservation groups that aims to improve the economic and social wellbeing of smallholders and their communities, and ensure the environmental sustainability of tree crop systems. STCP is currently active in developing and strengthening community-focused groups, transferring the best available technology packages to farmers, creating regional marketing and information systems to enhance efficiency of the tree crops sector, preventing and eliminating the worst forms of child labor on farms, and identifying and promoting sound policy options for tree crops.
Anthony Sikpa
Anthony Sikpa is an exporter and Vice-President of the Federation of Association of Ghanaian Exporters (FAGE). He is also the Managing Director of Agrotrade.
AGOA and the Reality of Financing for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
Viji Rangaswami
Viji Rangaswami is an associate in the Trade, Equity, and Development Project at the Carnegie Endowment. Her work focuses on how multilateral and regional trade agreements, as well as unilateral preference programs, can promote development, particularly among the least developed countries.
Prior to joining the Carnegie Endowment, Rangaswami served six years as minority trade counsel to the Committee on the Ways and Means in the U.S. House of Representatives. She played a key role in legislation granting permanent normal trade relations status to China and extending unilateral trade preferences to various regions, including sub-Saharan Africa.
Rangaswami also worked with both the Clinton and Bush Administrations to implement major trade initiatives, including free trade agreements with Jordan, Chile, Singapore, Australia, and Morocco. She provided oversight and advice to members of Congress on ongoing trade negotiations, with particular emphasis on the Doha Round, the FTAA, Central America, and the Southern African Customs Union. She also advised members on issues such as textiles and apparel trade, intellectual property rights, unfair trade practices, WTO dispute settlement, and customs administration.
She has a B.A. and a J.D. from Duke University.
Ricardo Michel
In March 2006, Ricardo Michel joined Export-Import Bank as International Business Development Officer for Africa, bringing his extensive financial and international advisory experience to Ex-Im Bank. Currently, Mr. Michel focuses his efforts on creating and managing marketing efforts for Africa. He is a member of the Bank's internal working group that coordinates and facilitates the strategies and programs of Ex-Im Bank's "Africa Initiative". He serves as one of Ex-Im Bank's liaisons with exporters, financial institutions, U.S. Government Agencies and trade promotion organizations to foster U.S. trade on the African continent.
Mr. Michel came to Ex-Im Bank after having worked as an Independent Consultant offering strategic and business advisory services to clients in both the domestic and international arenas. Most recently, he's served as an advisor to a newly established private equity fund in Botswana. Mr. Michel was also the Senior Trade and Investment Advisor for the African Development Foundation ("ADF"), where his responsibilities required him to work in various countries throughout Africa. Prior to ADF, Mr. Michel worked as an Investment Banker for JPMorgan Securities Inc., where he focused on mergers and acquisitions within the Financial Institutions Group. He was also employed overseas working in a major reinsurance company located in Bermuda and also served as a Senior Auditor for the public accounting firm of Arthur Andersen, LLP in their Philadelphia and Bermuda offices.
Mr. Michel received his MBA in Finance and International Strategic Management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Cum Laude graduate of Temple University's Scholastic Honors Program and holds a bachelors degree in Accounting.
Manuel Antonio Rosales
Manuel "Manny" Antonio Rosales was appointed as the assistant administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of International Trade by SBA Administrator Hector V. Barreto in October 2001.
Mr. Rosales serves as the Administrator's principal adviser on international trade, educational and technical assistance, risk management and finance programs designed to assist U.S. small businesses in the international marketplace.
Before joining the SBA, Mr. Rosales successfully operated his own financial services company, Inter-American Financial Services. The company specialized in providing small businesses and individuals with financial-planning products and services.
From 1963 to 1978 Mr. Rosales' career was in banking. In 1992 Mr. Rosales was elected chairman of the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, where he served five years as the advocate for more than 400,000 Hispanic owned businesses in the state.
Elected twice to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Rosales was instrumental in providing national forums for small business issues and expanding opportunities for Hispanic-owned businesses nationally and internationally.
John Simon
John A. Simon is the Executive Vice President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). Prior to his OPIC appointment in April 2006, Simon served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Relief, Stabilization and Development for the National Security Council (NSC) at the White House. From 2003 to 2005, he served as Director of Development Issues at the NSC.
From 2002 to 2003, Simon was Deputy Assistant Administrator at the United States Agency for International Development, overseeing the agency's development information and evaluation units.
Earlier in his career, Simon served as Director of Business Finance and Strategic Planning at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. He also worked for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office for Administration and Finance in several capacities, including Deputy Director for Research and Development.
Simon received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University.
Opening Plenary
Raymond A. Almeida
Since 1996 Ray Almeida has been Senior International Policy Analyst at Bread for the World, the national Christian citizen's movement against hunger. Ray has over 25 years of professional engagement with Africa policy issues. From 1985-91, Ray Almeida was the managing partner of a small eight person busines in the Cape Verde Islands of West Africa, Dive Cape Verde, Limited, a scuba diving tourism company and a spiny lobster and fresh fish exporter. Before joining Bread for the World, Ray was a member of the professional staff of the US House of Representatives among other positions in international affairs.
Ray Almeida is from New Bedford, Massachusetts. He took his BA in Philosophy at Stonehill College and a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University and was a Community Fellow in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT.
David Beckmann
David Beckmann is president of Bread for the World, a faith-based grassroots advocacy movement on hunger and poverty issues. Bread for the World mobilizes a quarter of a million letters and calls to Congress annually from its members and member churches. The organization has an impressive of legislative victories, notably in the areas of international development and nutrition assistance to poor people within the United States. Bread for the World is playing a major role in the ONE Campaign.
David is also president of two affiliated organizations. Bread for the World Institute does analysis and public education on hunger and poverty issues. The Alliance to End Hunger engages diverse institutions (corporations, unions, charities, foundations and others) in building political commitment to reduce hunger.
David is a Lutheran pastor and an economist. Before coming to Bread for the World in 1991, he worked at the World Bank for 15 years.
Paul Brenton
Paul Brenton is a Senior Economist in the Trade Department of the World Bank. He joined the Bank in August 2002, having been Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Trade Policy Unit at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels since 1995. Previously he worked as a lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of Birmingham, England. He has a PhD in Economics from the University of East Anglia, England.
He has over 20 years of experience of applied trade policy research, together with extensive publication, on, amongst other issues: the economic impact of trade policies and trade liberalization, with a particular focus on trade preferences for developing countries, regional integration, rules of origin, the WTO, economic analysis of foreign direct investment and the role of regulations in influencing trade and investment flows. He was task team leader for the Rwanda Diagnostic Trade Integration Study and has contributed to numerous diagnostic trade studies for the Bank, including those for Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Moldova, Sierra Leone and Ukraine, has worked on the rules of origin in SADC and was a major contributor the Bank's flagship publication Global Economic Prospects 2005: Trade Regionalism and Development.
AGOA Civil Society Stakeholders Luncheon
Chinua Akukwe
Dr. Chinua Akukwe is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Departments of Global Health and Prevention and Community Health of the George Washington University. Dr. Akukwe has extensive experience in HIV/AIDS and development in Africa , Maternal and Child Health (MCH), and Community Oriented Primary Care (COPC), both in the U.S and abroad.
Dr. Akukwe is a consultant in the areas of HIV/AIDS strategies, policies and programs in Africa and MCH issues in the U.S. Dr. Akukwe developed the Communicable Diseases Guidelines for the African Development Bank and has consulted on infant mortality and MCH issues with state and local governments in the U.S. He is a member of the Board of the Constituency for Africa, with a principal focus on HIV/AIDS in Africa . Since 1995, Dr. Akukwe has served on National Expert Review Panels for MCH programs for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Akukwe is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in London and also a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology. Dr. Akukwe is a former member of the editorial board of the American Journal of Public Health.
Dr. Akukwe teaches graduate courses in international health policy, advanced global health policy applications and the course on politics, governance and HIV/AIDS in Africa . In addition, he holds a Master's Degree in Public Health with Distinction from the Hebrew University School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Israel.
Mandisi Bongani Mabuto Mpahlwa
Mandisi B. M. Mpahlwa is Minister of Trade and Industry of the Republic of South Africa, a post he has held since April 2004. Prior to that he was South Africa's Deputy Minister of Finance and a Member of Parliament. While serving in Parliament Minister Mpalwha served as Chair of the National Assembly from 1997 to 1999.
In his early career, Mpahlwa worked for the Umtata Municipality Electrical Engineering section as a Trainee Electrical Engineering Technician., but was forced into exile for political reasons in November 1985. From then until 1993, he did voluntary work for the African National Congress both in exile and in South Africa. He was involved in the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) and multi-party negotiations from December 1991 to April 1993.
He studied for a Diploma in Electrical Engineering at Mangosuthu Technikon in Umlazi, Durban from 1980 to 1983, but had to go into exile with one course outstanding. He obtained a Diploma in Economic Principles from the University of London in 1996 and completed an MSc in Financial Economics at the University of London in 2001. He has also completed courses in Macro-economics at American University and at The National Institute of Economic Policy in South Africa as well as an Economic Leadership course at the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Leonard Robinson
Leonard H. Robinson, Jr. is President and CEO of the Africa Society of The National Summit on Africa. Mr. Robinson and colleagues founded The Africa Society in 2001 as a direct outgrowth of the historic National Summit on Africa. The mission of the Africa Society is to educate and inform all Americans about the great and diverse continent of Africa. The National Summit on Africa was established in 1997 to educate all Americans about Africa, to build a broad constituency of support for Africa in the United States, and to formulate a National Policy Plan of Action on U.S.-Africa Relations in the Twenty-First Century-- the Summit held a historic conference on Africa in Washington in 2000.
Robinson has more than 30 years working and living experience in international affairs, with Africa and Asia as regions of specialization. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, from 1983-85 where he was responsible for economic and commercial policy. And, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State from 1990-1993, he was responsible for U.S. policy toward Central and West Africa. Robinson spent six years as President of the U.S. African Development Foundation.
Robinson received a BA from Ohio State University; and attended graduate school at the State University of New York, Binghamton, and post graduate school at the American University, Washington, DC, and Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Randy Soderquist
Randall J. Soderquist serves as Director of the Economic Policy Program, responsible for further refining the existing elements of GMF's trade, agriculture, and development program and creating new programming which explores a wide variety of transatlantic economic issues. Dr. Soderquist focuses on projects that analyze both transatlantic and global economic issues, such as regulatory convergence, international competitiveness, financial services, investment, entrepreneurship, aid, economic development, immigration, rule of law, international labor standards, and corporate social responsibility.
Dr. Soderquist serves as U.S. staff director of the Trade and Poverty Forum, and also promotes the expansion of the network that endorses the Forum's Call to Action, a set of recommendations in the areas of trade, development, and political reform.
Prior to joining GMF, Dr. Soderquist served on the staff of Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, as Senior Policy Advisor for Economic and International Affairs and Democratic Staff Director of the Subcommittee on International Trade.
Dr. Soderquist holds a doctorate in political science from the University of Pittsburgh, as well as masters and undergraduate degrees from the University of Washington, Jackson School of International Studies and California State University, Sonoma. He has also studied at the Stanford Inter-University Center for Advanced Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama, Japan.
Workshop 1: Local and Regional Markets: Building Blocks for Trade Capacity
Ibrahima Coulibaly
Ibrahima Coulibaly is a member of the Executive Committee of the African Network of Peasant Farmer Organizations. He is also President of the National Coordinating Body of Peasant Farmer Organizations. As a farmer, he got involved in various peasant farming organizations including the Association of Professional Producers of Mali where he is now Manager of External Affairs.
Daniel Karanja
Dr. Daniel Karanja is a Senior Fellow with the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, an independent U.S.-Africa effort focused on increasing the level and effectiveness of U.S. development assistance and public-private investments in Africa's agriculture and rural development. Daniel is also the Partnership's Co-Chair of the Working Group on Capacity Building in Science and Technology and is technical advisor to the Washington-based African Ambassadors' Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD). In this capacity, he leads the Partnership's collaborative work with CARD, which includes holding a series of panel discussions with the ambassadors on key topics of U.S.-Africa interest. Over the past two years, Daniel has also guided the Partnership's work on strengthening U.S.-Africa agricultural trade and capacity building, including work related to the U.S. Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
Prior to joining the Partnership in October 2003, Daniel worked as an international agriculture policy analyst with Bread for the World Institute, Washington, D.C., where his primary responsibility was to educate U.S. and African non-governmental and church organizations on agricultural development and biotechnology in Africa.
Daniel has also worked with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) for more than 15 years, developing and evaluating agricultural technologies for smallholder farmers. His pioneer study on the rate of return to investments in hybrid maize research in Kenya inspired many similar studies in other African countries. He has written numerous journal articles and book chapters, consulted for local and international agencies, and has a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Michigan State University.
John Kilama
Dr. John Kilama is President of Global Bioscience Development Institute (GBDI). GBDI supports and nurtures efforts of developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to create coherent strategies that leverage their human and natural resources to develop biomedical products, biotechnology products, agricultural products for improving nutrition, and other biologically derived technologies and products.
Before founding GBDI in 1999, Dr. Kilama had a distinguished career as a research Medicinal chemist. At DuPont Company, as Senior Medicinal Research Chemist, he was awarded several patents for applications of chemicals for crop protection.
Dr Kilama is also currently adjunct Professor at Union Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition, Dr Kilama is a member of the Board of Directors of Initiative on Public-Private Partnership for Health (IPPPH)- a Geneva based organization affiliated with World Health Organization (WHO). Dr. Kilama received his Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Arizona; a Pharmacy degree from the University of Kentucky and Chemistry degree from Berea College, in Berea, Kentucky.
Jabulani Ntshangase
Jabulani Ntshangase is the owner of Stellenbosch, South Africa-based Thabani wine company. He serves on the board of several companies. He is also a recognised acclaimed wine connoisseur and serves on the board of the South African Wine Trust. Over the years Jabulani played an influential part in establishing several popular brands locally and internationally. He was also the founder and is the majority shareholder of Thabani Wines, the first true black owned wine producer in South Africa.
Phyllis Shearer Jones
Phyllis Shearer Jones is the President and CEO of Elan International LLC (Elan). Elan provides comprehensive consulting services and products to support our clients' development, both domestically and internationally. Elan focuses on areas such as business and organizational development, marketing strategy and programs development, international trade promotion, trade policy and capacity building, trade mission facilitation, government/public relations, conference planning and fund raising.
Prior to founding Elan International in 1997, Ms. Jones spent two and a half years as an appointee at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) where she held the position of Assistant United States Trade Representative for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison. In that position, Ms. Jones was the Administration's principal liaison on trade issues to the business community, state/local governments, trade associations, non-governmental organizations, and the general public.
Prior to joining USTR, Ms. Jones worked for the IBM Corporation for almost nineteen years. Her assignments at IBM included negotiating IBM's position on international trade laws such as GATT and NAFTA.
A native of Washington, DC, Ms. Jones received her Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Wharton School with a concentration in Decision Sciences and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Joshua Walton
Joshua Walton is Senior Vice President for Africa and Middle East at ACDI/VOCA. He designs and supervises the implementation of ACDI/VOCA's long range growth strategy for Africa and the Middle East. Prior to taking up his current post in 2001, Mr. Walton served as ACDI/VOCA's Regional Vice President for Africa for ten years, where he grew the regional portfolio from four projects in two countries to 24 projects in ten countries. From 1987 to 1990 Mr. Walton served as ACDI's Cairo-based Regional Representative for the Middle East and left behind a pipeline of $12 million in newly funded agribusiness, mass media and microfinance programs.
Mr. Walton has over 25 years of experience in the design and management of projects focusing on innovative banking systems, small farmer agribusiness organizations, small business development, and natural resource management in the U.S. and throughout Africa and the Middle East. His long-term overseas assignments include Egypt, Ethiopia, Burundi and Burkina Faso.
Mr. Walton speaks French, Spanish, Swahili, Amharic and Arabic, and has a BS in sociology, with a minor in economics, from the University of San Francisco and completed graduate work in computer systems applications at the University of Southern California.
Workshop 2: AGOA, GSP, and Doha: The Challenge of Preference Erosion
Meredith Broadbent
Meredith Broadbent is the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Industry, Market Access and Telecommunications. She is responsible for developing and coordinating U.S. trade policy as it affects U.S. business and manufacturing interests such as semiconductors, telecommunications, forest products, chemicals, steel, aircraft, and electronic commerce. She also coordinates industrial market access negotiations in bilateral and regional free trade agreement negotiations as well as in the World Trade Organization.
Prior to joining USTR, she served as senior professional staff member for the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee where she handled trade issues for Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, Trade Subcommittee Chairman Phil Crane, and the other Republican Members of the Ways and Means Committee. In this position she played a key role in drafting and passage of the Trade and Development Act of 2000, legislation to authorize normal trade relations with China, and the Trade Act of 2002 which includes trade promotion authority and the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act.
Earlier in her career she served as professional staff for the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee during the development of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, and the implementing bills for NAFTA and the Uruguay Round Agreements.
Meredith holds a B.A. in history from Middlebury College and an M.B.A. from the George Washington University School of Business and Public Management.
Emily Byers
Emily Byers is the Senior Trade Policy Analyst at Bread for the World Institute, the research and education arm of Bread for the World, a Christian citizens' movement against hunger. Prior to assuming her current position, she worked as the policy analyst for the Institute's annual Hunger Report, leading research and analysis for Hunger 2003: Agriculture in the Global Economy, Hunger 2004: Are We On Track to End Hunger?, and Hunger 2005: Strengthening Rural Communities. She earned an MSc in Politics of the World Economy from the London School of Economics.
Katrin Kuhlmann
Katrin Kuhlmann joined the Women' Edge Coalition in July 2005 as the Senior Vice President for Global Trade. Ms. Kuhlmann leads the global trade program at the Women's Edge Coalition, which advocates for U.S. trade policies that address the economic needs of women living in poverty around the world, and she also heads the organization's Global Opportunity for Women campaign. Ms. Kuhlmann has experience as both a trade negotiator and international trade and corporate attorney. She has had longstanding personal and professional involvement in international women's issues.
Prior to joining the Women's Edge Coalition, Ms. Kuhlmann's most recent position was as Director for Eastern Europe and Eurasia in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) where she was responsible for developing and coordinating U.S. trade policy with Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Prior to joining USTR, Ms. Kuhlmann practiced law at Dewey Ballantine LLP in Washington, D.C. and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP in New York.
Ms. Kuhlmann holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in Economics and German Studies from Creighton University. She was the recipient of a Fulbright grant to study international economics in Halle, Germany in 1992.
Tshediso Matona
Tshediso Matona is a senior trade official in the South Africa's Ministry of Trade and Industry. As a Deputy Director General, Matona is a trade policy advisor to the Minister of Trade and Industry and to the Cabinet, as well trade negotiator for South Africa. Matona was involved in the early negotiations for a free trade agreement that South Africa initiated with the European Union, and with neighboring countries in the Southern African Development Community and the Southern African Customs Union.
In 1996-98, Matona worked in Geneva, Switzerland, as the head of South Africa's Permanent Trade Mission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and United Nations economic agencies.
He began with the Department of Trade and Industry in 1995. He was made chief director: trade negotiations in 2000. In 2002 he was appointed deputy director-general for International Trade and Economic Development for the Department, a post he has held since then.
In February 2004, Matona was appointed into a World Health Organization Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health to look into issues of promoting the creation of, and access to, drugs for poor people, e.g. TB, Malaria, HIV/AIDS.
Matona holds degrees in economics from the universities of Cape Town (South Africa) and East Anglia (UK), and certificates in trade law and management in government from the Maastricht University (Netherlands) and Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government (USA).
Ram Nookadee
Ram Sumbang Nookadee is the Secretary of the Mauritius Council of Social Service (MACOSS). MACOSS is a network of 205 NGOs dedicated to sustainable community development in Mauritius. The Council's purpose is to promote cooperation in order to achieve, in particular, the advancement of social education, the furtherance of health, and relief of poverty, distress, and sickness.
He is also chairman of the SADC Council of NGOs.
Workshop 3: Market Access under AGOA: Still Room for Improvement
Katherine Daniels
Katherine Daniels has worked at Oxfam America on its Make Trade Fair campaign since May 2002. She advises Oxfam's regional offices in Africa, Latin America, and Asia on trade policy issues and campaigning strategies, as well as advocates for the adoption of pro-poor trade and investment policies by the US government. Among her areas of expertise are labor rights, international investment, and corporate social responsibility.
Prior to coming to Oxfam, Katherine researched trade and labor rights at the AFL-CIO. She was also a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea, West Africa, where she worked on public health and community development projects. Katherine holds a Master's in International Development Management and an MBA in International Business from American University.
Babacar Ndao
Babacar Ndao is the technical advisor for the Federation of NGOs of Senegal (FONGS). He is representing the Network of Farmers' Organizations and Agricultural Producers of West Africa (ROPPA) at the AGOA Civil Society Forum. He also advises the Senegalese government in their multilateral trade negotiations.
Viji Rangaswami
See bio at top of page
Tim Reif
Tim Reif is Chief Democratic Trade Counsel for the Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives. He has held teaching appointments at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and at the Georgetown University Law Center since 1995. Previously, he served in the Office of the General Counsel, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and Office of the General Counsel, U.S. International Trade Commission, and in private law practice at Dewey Ballantine and Milbank Tweed. Reif has organized and jointly chaired four symposia on the WTO (1998, 2000, 2002, and 2005), and has written widely on trade topics. Reif holds a law degree from Columbia and a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Woodrow Wilson School, where he also earned his undergraduate degree.
Manisha Singh
Manisha Singh is Deputy Chief Counsel to the Republican staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, working for the Chairman, Senator Richard Lugar. She has oversight of international trade, development and economic policy matters. Her prior Capitol Hill experience includes serving as Counsel to the Republican staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. Before coming to Capitol Hill, Ms. Singh was a practicing attorney at the law firms of Squire Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P. and Reed Smith LLP. She speaks and writes regularly on foreign policy issues.
Plenary 2: Advocacy for AGOA
Gawain Kripke
Gawain Kripke is Senior Policy Advisor on international trade issues with Oxfam America, based in Washington, DC. He directs the policy work of the organization's Make Trade Fair campaign, which aims to change unfair trade rules so that international trade can become a powerful force for reducing global poverty. Kripke has authored numerous opinion pieces and briefing papers on trade and development issues. He has testified before Congress and appears frequently on radio and television programs, including Marketplace, CNN, National Public Radio, and BBC World News. Prior to joining Oxfam, Kripke served as director of economic programs for the environmental organization Friends of the Earth. He holds a B.A. in Government from Harvard College.
Kathy Pomroy
Kathy Pomroy is the Director of Organizing for Bread for the World. Based in Washington, DC, Kathy works in cooperation with denominations, ecumenical organizations, and Bread for the World local groups, members, churches, and national staff to organize informed and effective citizen advocacy to alleviate hunger in this country and internationally. Supervising a staff of 22 regional and programmatic organizers and interns, Kathy is a key player in all of Bread's major decisions. In her 18 years at Bread for the World, she has been the coordinator of a nation-wide seminar series designed to strengthen the hunger ministry of the local church, the director of the organization's Covenant Church program, and the acting Vice President. Kathy has been a leader on all the campaigns on which Bread for the World has worked since 1988, including the Jubilee 2000 campaign for debt relief to the world's poorest countries and the current ONE Campaign to end global hunger, poverty and disease.
Before joining the staff of Bread for the World, Kathy worked in Minnesota for Church World Service, interpreting its worldwide role in relief, refugee resettlement and long-term development. She has also been an award winning coach and teacher of debate and speech, an organizer and director of youth service agencies, and the manager of several political campaigns. Kathy has chaired and served on numerous national and state level boards and hunger task forces, including serving as an elected delegate to her denomination's national assembly and the vice chair at regional level. She is an accomplished writer and speaker.
Kathy's undergraduate and graduate education was at the University of Minnesota in International Relations and Public Affairs.
Workshop 4: Expanding AGOA: Travel and Tourism, etc.
Iain Christie
Iain Christie is a Senior Research Associate and lecturer at George Washington University and, prior to 1999, was a manager and adviser at the World Bank. He consults on tourism and enterprise development for strategic growth and economic diversification for public and private sector groups. He led preparation of the World Bank's Africa private sector strategy in 1997, its framework paper "Tourism In Africa" in 2000 and regularly publishes on tourism issues. Mr. Christie joined the World Bank in 1972 as a financial analyst and has covered tourism, infrastructure, finance and enterprise development. Mr. Christie has been a hotel manager (US and Europe), assistant professor at Michigan State University and a management consultant in New York City. He attended Strathclyde University, Scotland, and has graduate degrees in economics and business from New York and Michigan State Universities, respectively.
Roberta Hilbruner
Roberta Hilbruner has been a Communication for Development Specialist with USAID's Office of Natural Resources Management since 2000. She manages GreenCOM, a global project that has worked in over 40 countries for the past 11 years to scale up development impact through social change processes. She also manages AgCOMM, an agricultural communication project, and chairs the USAID Sustainable Tourism Working Group.
Before joining USAID, Roberta worked for the USDA/Forest Service for over 25 years as a recreation planner, natural and cultural history interpreter, and public affairs officer. She was Project Manager for design and construction of an award-winning visitor center in the Columbia River Gorge and while serving in the Forest Service national office, she managed the Smokey Bear fire prevention program. She brings this recreation experience to her leadership of the USAID global tourism program.
Roberta graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Technical Journalism and holds a Master of Science degree from Colorado State University in Recreation Resource Management.
Kristin Lamoureux
Kristin Lamoureux is the Director of International Institute of Tourism Studies at The George Washington University, as well as an adjunct faculty member of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, specializing in the planning and development of sustainable tourism. Currently, her duties include the oversight of all IITS activities including the Career Education Program and the administration of all grants/contracts such as the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail Interactive Guide project with the US National Park Service and a USAID project focused on Sustainable Tourism Development in Rural Areas of Mozambique. Additionally, she is involved in several projects focusing on the development of tourism competitive clusters as a means for economic development in various destinations including Bulgaria, Dominican Republic and others. Ms Lamoureux recently served as a consultant on a World Bank funded project entitled "Honduras: Sustainable Coastal Tourism Project" intended to lessen poverty in the Northern Coastal regions of Honduras. She has also worked as tourism advisor or consultant to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the World Travel and Tourism Council, the Ecotourism Society, Conservation International, among others.
Jennifer Marcy
Jennifer Marcy is with The Craft Center at CHF International.
David Saunders
David J. Saunders is CEO of Venue International Professionals, Inc. (VIP) which is a full-service travel and tourism company that specializes in destinations on the African Continent. Mr. Saunders has traveled extensively throughout African Continent. In addition, he has extensive experience with working with both non-profit organizations and start-up enterprises that are doing business on the African Continent.
He is a Board Member of the American and African Business Women's Alliance (AABWA), African-American Partnership for Global Economic Commerce (AAPGEC), Africa Travel Association (ATA), International Association of Black Travel Writers (IABTW), and HBCUInstituteã. He is also a consultant to the U.S. Small Business Administration's International Trade Advisory Council as well as the African Region of Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE). He is a prolific writer of newsworthy articles and papers for many trade publications (to include the Africa Travellers Journal, Africa Travel Magazine, ATA Website, and Black Meetings & Tourism Magazine) and is a featured panelist of radio and cable television on various topics of the travel and tourism industry as well as trade and investment related opportunities in Africa.
Saunders also serves as Director of Administration and Management Services for the Constituency for Africa (CFA), a Washington-based non-governmental organization that specializes in influencing U.S.-Africa foreign policy. He is a member of the African American Unity Caucus (AAUC) and in addition, supervises an ongoing Africa-focused internship program within CFA for students of American colleges and universities in order to gain substantial knowledge and insight about U.S.-Africa foreign policy through experiential training and mentoring initiatives.
Workshop 5: Aid for Trade: Can AGOA Deliver?
Susan Bornstein
Susan Bornstein is Director of Global Programs for TechnoServe, an international economic development agency that helps entrepreneurial people in the developing world build businesses that benefit low income people. She assumed this position in May 2006, and focuses on partnership development, program development and thought leadership around entrepreneurship, SME and industry competitiveness. Prior to this position, Susan served as TechnoServe's Deputy Director for Africa for 9 years, as well as Interim Director for Kenya. She has a master's degree in international trade from George Mason University and a Bachelor's degree in International Studies (economics and African Studies) from Michigan State University.
Amacodou Diouf
Amacodou Diouf represents Action humaine pour le développement intégré au Sénégal (AHDIS) [Human Action for Integrated Development of Senegal].
Bigman Maloa
Mamogaudi Jacob Bigman Maloa is a farmer and businessman from South Africa. He is also Director of greenbridge group, ltd. in South Africa.
Dominique Njinkeu
Dominique Njinkeu is the Deputy Director of Research of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) where he manages, among others, the trade policy research program. He has worked as Research Coordinator of the Reseau Politiques Industrielles in Dakar (Senegal), a trade research capacity building program for Francophone Africa. Prior to that he taught at the University of Yaounde (Cameroon), at the Universite Laval in Quebec (Canada) and at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (USA). He holds a PhD in Economics, a Masters degree in Economics and Statistics and a Masters degree in Agribusiness Economics. His research interests are in trade policy and African development. Dominique Njinkeu in a Cameroonian citizen.
Vanessa Ulmer
Vanessa Ulmer is a Program Officer with the Economics Policy Program at the German Marshall Fund, with a focus on international trade and development policy. She worked previously with the Trade, Equity and Development Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Vanessa also has lived in northern Nicaragua, where she coordinated a cultural exchange program and taught English.
Vanessa holds a BS in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University.
Wilma B. Wallace
Wilma Wallace is a Vice-President and Associate General Counsel at Gap Inc., including its four primary brands, Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Forth and Towne.
In her legal capacity, Wilma is responsible for managing a variety of commercial legal issues for the Company. She advises Gap Inc. business partners on a wide range of supply chain related issues, including matters of social responsibility. In her non-legal capacity, Wilma also oversees the management of Gap Inc.'s Government Affairs and Public Policy functions. Throughout her 11 years at Gap Inc. she has provided leadership as a part of the team that developed Gap Inc.'s groundbreaking approach to ethical sourcing and reporting. Wilma is also Gap Inc's representative on BLIHR, Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights, a business lead initiative with the goal of leading and developing a corporate response to human rights issues.
She received her undergraduate degree from Brown University in 1984 and her J.D. from University of Virginia School of Law in 1989.
Workshop 6: Making AGOA Work for Poor People: Oversight from the Bottom Up
Lawrencia Adams
Lawrencia Adams is the coordinator for the Pan African Organization for Sustainable Development. The Pan African Organization for Sustainable Development is made up of a number of NGO's from Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Angola, Ghana, Benin and Sao Tome and Principe. It's mission is to promote cooperation among advocacy and grassroots organizations across Africa to achieve maximum impact in their attempts to eradicate poverty and promote sustainable development.
Malcolm Damon
Malcolm Damon is the Director of the Economic Justice Network of FOCCISA (Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa). EJN consist of eleven Christian Councils operating in the Southern African region from Angola in the North West, South Africa in the South up to Tanzania in the East. EJN work on Trade, Debt and Food Security issues with the objective to capacitate National Christian Councils to deal with economic issues and the numerous challenges facing the region.. In addition together with our sister organisation EDICISA (Ecumenical Documentation and Information Centre in Southern Africa) we focus on the Economic Impact of Aids and the Role of Churches in Fighting the Pandemic. He was instrumental in establishing the Parliamentary Office of the South African Council of Churches which monitors the South African parliament and do advocacy work.
Malcolm Damon studied theology and attained a Master degree from Princeton Theological Seminary (USA) specialising in Ethics and Economic Life. Furthermore he completed a thesis Master in Theology from the University of the Western Cape entitled: An analysis of the Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Bishops of the USA "Economic Justice for All" – What the Uniting Reformed Church can Learn from it?
He is also an ordained Minister of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa.
Kathy McNeely
Kathy McNeely is a Policy Analyst/Advocate for Church World Service with specific focus on food security and international trade in agriculture, HIV/AIDS and debt. Just prior to Church World Service, Kathy was the Associate Director for the Center of Concern's Agribusiness Accountability Initiative, where she worked with international networks of farm, labor, consumer, environmental, development and faith groups interested in challenging the impacts of agribusiness on food availability and food safety around the globe.
Kathy also served as the Associate for Africa Issues at the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns from 1998-2004 educating, advocating and networking around issues of peace, social and economic justice, and ecology paying particular attention to US-Africa policy.
She also spent seven years living and working in Central America, first with Witness for Peace in Nicaragua and later with the Maryknoll Lay Mission program in Guatemala. She also served as an associate chaplain at William College in Massachusetts for three years.
McNeely earned a Masters of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School and a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion and Spanish literature from Denison University in Granville, Ohio.
Fred Oladeinde
Fred Olagoke Oladeinde is the President of The Foundation for Democracy in Africa (FDA); a Washington D.C. based non profit, development organization, founded in 1994 to promote and provide training in democracy, good governance, free markets, entrepreneurship and civil society capacity building in Africa.
He is the coordinator of the AGOA Civil Society Network, a consortium of more than 100 non-governmental organizations, small-to-medium sized business representatives, chambers of commerce and other groups in the United States and Africa that work for the successful application of AGOA for improved standard of living, freedom and liberty throughout Africa.
Fatima Shabodian
Fatima Shabodien is the Executive Director of Women on Farms Project. The Women on Farms Project builds organization amongst women in agriculture by building their capacity as agents of change and as leaders. Their vision is one in which women play a leading role in sustainable agricultural production ensuring access to secure employment, food, land, and housing whilst the natural environment is preserved for future generations. The Women on Farms Project currently has programs in Labor Rights; Women's Economic Development; Social Security; Local Government, Housing, and Land; Youth; and Women's Health.
Capitol Hill Luncheon
Vivian Lowery Derryck
Vivian Lowery Derryck is currently the Senior Vice President and Director of Public Private Partnerships at the Academy for Educational Development. Previously, Ms. Derryck was employed by USAID as the Assistant Administrator for Africa. She has been an active participant in African affairs by working at the Africa Leadership Forum, African-American Institute and National Council of Negro Women. Her international experience has included National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and Washington International Center and a position as Deputy Assisstant Secretary for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights. She has been a member of numerous esteemed government delegations and professional organizations around the world with concentration on African affairs, including a position on US delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission for six years.
Ms. Derryck received a Masters in International Affairs and Cesrtificate in African Studies from the Columbia University School of International Affairs in New York. She earned a Certificate of Executive Management from the Federal Executive Institute from Virginia.
Jendayi E. Frazer
Jendayi E. Frazer was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for African Affairs on August 29, 2005. Prior to her current assignment, Dr. Frazer served as U.S. Ambassador to South Africa. Immediately before her ambassadorship, Dr. Frazer served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of African Affairs at the National Security Council.
Prior to joining the George W. Bush Administration, Dr. Frazer taught public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Frazer brought practical experience to that position, having worked as a political-military planer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council, during her time as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow.
Dr. Frazer earned her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at Stanford University. Her doctoral dissertation examined Kenya's civilian-military relationship. Security issues remain of interest to Dr. Frazer, who regularly speaks to military audiences and about military-related issues in Africa.
William Guyton
Bill Guyton is the president of the World Cocoa Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization focusing specifically on farmer outreach and environmental programs. Currently Bill manages three regional farmer training programs, along with an international coordinated research program with USDA and other partners. He helped form the Foundation in July 2000 while serving as the vice president of cocoa research for the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and its research arm, the American Cocoa Research Institute.
Prior to joining CMA/ACRI, Bill was Director of Business Development at the U.S. Grains Council. Before his position with the Grains Council, Bill worked for more than 10 years in developing countries, advising and implementing agricultural projects for USAID, the World Bank, GTZ, USDA, OECD, Peace Corp and other development organizations.
Bill holds an MS degree from Michigan State University in Agricultural Economics and a BS in Agricultural Business from Colorado State University.
Raymond Offenheiser
Raymond C. Offenheiser is the president of Oxfam America, a non-profit international development and relief agency and the U.S. affiliate of Oxfam International. Oxfam works to end global poverty through saving lives, strengthening communities, and campaigning for change. Since Mr. Offenheiser joined Boston-based Oxfam America in 1995, the organization has grown more than fourfold in size and has positioned itself as a leader on international development and global trade.
Mr. Offenheiser, who has worked his entire career in the non-profit sector, is a recognized leader on issues such as poverty alleviation, human rights, foreign assistance, and international development. Before joining Oxfam America, he served for five years as the Ford Foundation Representative in Bangladesh and, prior to that, in the Andean and Southern Cone regions of South America. He has also directed programs for the Inter-American Foundation in both Brazil and Columbia and worked for Save the Children Federation in Mexico.
Capitol Hill Events
Raymond A. Almeida
Since 1996 Ray Almeida has been Senior International Policy Analyst at Bread for the World, the national Christian citizen's movement against hunger. Ray has over 25 years of professional engagement with Africa policy issues. He lived in the Cape Verde Islands of West Africa for five years. Before joining Bread for the World, Ray was a member of the professional staff of the US House of Representatives among other positions in international affairs. See full
Ray Almeida is from New Bedford, Massachusetts. He took his BA in Philosophy at Stonehill College and a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University and was a Community Fellow in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT.
Bernadette Paolo
Bernadette Paolo is Vice President of The Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa. Prior to becoming Vice President of the Africa Society, she served as the Vice President of the National Summit on Africa and was formerly this organization's Director of Field Operations. She was entrusted with the responsibility of organizing six regional summits throughout the United States, outreach and mobilization efforts, as well as being the in-house Legal Counsel. She, together with the President of The Africa Society, has been instrumental in the founding and development of this organization, and in creating and executing its educational programs.
Ms. Paolo has more than 20 years of experience in international affairs that includes an extensive career of 12 years in the U.S. Congress. For more than a decade, she was a professional staff member on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, now the House International Relations Committee. Her positions included Staff Director and Counsel for the House Subcommittee on Africa, Deputy Staff Director for the Subcommittee on International Operations, and Staff Consultant and Deputy Staff Director of the House Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Organizations.
Her other work experience includes being an educator – teaching English on the secondary and university levels, as well as a professional writer. A native of West Virginia, Ms. Paolo received her B.A. from West Liberty College, her M.A. from West Virginia University and her J.D. from Antioch School of Law. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the West Virginia Bar. She is on the Board of the Women's Intercultural Network
Closing Plenary
Nii Akuetteh
Nii Akuetteh is the founder of the Democracy and Conflict Research Institute (DCRI) and a member of the TransAfrica Forum's Scholars' Council. Among earlier positions, he was the founding Executive Director of OSIWA, the West Africa arm of the George Soros Foundation, and the Research and Education Director at TransAfrica. He also taught at Georgetown University.
For more than two decades, he has monitored and analyzed U.S. foreign relations, African affairs, economic development, and globalization. BBC World News, Evening Exchange, Newsweek-On-The-Air, and WPFW are among the broadcast media he has appeared on. His written analyses and commentary have been published in Tompaine.com, The Washington Post, TransAfrica's Issue Brief, and Africa Writers Series. He was the longest serving editor of the Foreign Policy Quarterly, TransAfrica Forum Journal. Nii was born in Ghana and educated in the U.S. and Ghana.
Vore Seck
Vore Seck is the Director of GREEN SENEGAL, a non-governmental organization (NGO) she founded in 1999 after working 10 years at Rodale Institute, an American NGO. GREEN SENEGAL works with small farmers and women's groups in five regions of Senegal to develop better livelihoods. She has an MSc in agriculture and environmental resources from Arizona State University.
She is representing the Conseil des ONG d'Appui au Développement (CONGAD), Senegal's umbrella organization of NGOs at the Civil Society AGOA Forum.
Civil Society Forum Cocktail Reception
Mel Foote
Melvin P. Foote is President and CEO of Constituency for Africa, a coalition of organizations and groups that educates Americans about Africa and African issues. The Constituency for Africa began more than fifteen years ago when a group of concerned Africanists, interested citizens and Africa-focused organizations developed a strategy to build organized support for Africa in the United States. CFA was charged with educating the U.S. public about Africa and U.S. policy on Africa; mobilizing an activist constituency for Africa; and fostering cooperation among a broad-based coalition of American, African and international organizations, and individuals committed to the progress and empowerment of Africa and African people.
Jeannine Scott
With over 23 years of development experience, Jeannine B. Scott is currently the Sr. Vice President of Africare. Prior to this Ms. Scott headed her own consulting business, 2001-2003. She held an appointment from the U.S. Department of Treasury to the African Development Bank as Advisor and Alternate to the US Executive Director, 1998-2001. From 1992-1998 Ms. Scott held several other staff positions at the AfDB. Her earlier career was spent with Africare – both at headquarters and in the field – in a number of positions. Ms. Scott holds an A.B. degree from Vassar College in Political Science and Africana Studies and a Master's degree in International Relations from Yale University.
