Board of Trustees

Partners for Development's board is comprised of experienced individuals in non-profit management, business, and academia.  You may access brief biographies of our Board members by clicking on their names.

Staff

The Washington, DC area headquarters is a lean operation, staffed by professionals in international development. Overseas programs are managed by technical and professional staff hired either out of the Washington area office or in-country. A majority of PFD staff are country nationals meaning profound knowledge of the local language, culture, and needs.  You may access a brief biography of PFD Staff by clicking on their names.

HQ Staff

Executive Director: Jack Marrkand

Senior Accountant: Donna Ellis

Director for Program Development:  Anne Johnson

Program Officer: Maja Cholody

Program Assistant: Whitney Kippes

Program Support Intern: Caitlin Cumming

Consultant: Mary Mugala

Bosnia & Herzegovina Country Team

Representative: Azra Hodzic

Programming: Armin Busatlic

Communication/Translation: Masa Miskin

Logistics: Edin Rapa

Nigeria Country Team

Country Program Director :  Ediri Iruaga

Deputy Country Program Director: Jonathan Garrett

Chief of Party: Dr. Benhamin Vonhm

Finance Director: Alexzandrea Ladapo

Admin/HR Manager: Tanya Olufu

Bauchi Program Manager: Danjuma Yakubu

Benue Program Manager: Emmanuel Itodo 

Delta Program Manager: Jacobs Enikanoselu

Akwa Ibom Program Manager: Onyinyechi Ogu

Strategic Information Manager: Fatiya Askederin Musah

Health Program Coordinator: TBD

SED Program Coordinator: Paul Adejumo

SED Training Coordinator: Yinka Akinpelu

Cambodia Country Team

Interim Country Program Director: Terry Kirch

Malaria Program Manager / Deputy Country Program Director: Philippe Guyant, M.D

Malaria Program Coordinator: Yim Sovann

Malaria Program Officers: Seung Snguon, Keo Sokha, Ya Saroeun

Malaria Community Program Officers: Ros Savdee, Sok Chanthy, Kheng Pyreth, Men Saros, Son Seng Ean

Capacity Building Specialist: Ung Bunthoeun

IEC/BCC Specialist: Khorn Linna

Research Coordinator: Ek Sovann

Finance Manager: Lonh Sok Heng

Tanzania Country Team

Country Program Director: Paul Warmka

Director of Finance and Administration: Justine Katesigwa

Nutritionist Coordinator: Diana Kidala

Office Manager: Hanspope Ambrose

Office Assistant: Sarah Juma Omari

Board Biographies

Joel Montague

Joel Montague is a public health officer.  He has been a Trustee of Partners for Development (and its predecessor organization) for 18 years and was its Chairman for eight of those years. He has been a trustee of various nonprofit organizations including the US Committee for Refugees, the National Council for International Health (now-called the “Global Health Council”), Immigration and Refugee Services of America and PFD-Cambodia, a local nonprofit organization in Cambodia working on malaria education through the primary school system. His first of many overseas assignments was in 1961. His last, from 1993-1997, was as the John Snow representative in Cambodia. He was awarded the Medal of Honor of the Iranian Red Lion and Son (the Red Cross) and was made an Officer of the Order of Republic of Tunisia.

Joel has lectured and chaired workshops at a number of graduate schools in the United States and abroad and is the author of some 29 articles on development and public health. In 2008, he co-authored a book on Vietnam entitled The Colonial Good Life published by White Lotus Press. Joel is married to Shahnaz Montague, a physician in private practice and is father of Jahan Montague, a professor of internal medicine and a daughter, Maryam Montague who does development work specializing in governance and women’s issues based in Morocco.

Deidre Lapin

Deirdre LaPin, Ph.D, MPH, is a scholar and international development specialist with longstanding experience across academia, government, multilateral agencies, and the private sector.  During 2008-2009 she was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in the Smithsonian Institution, researching the social history of the Niger Delta.  Dr. LaPin was previously a Research Associate and Lecturer at the University of Ife, Nigeria, and has taught at Emory University, the University of Pennsylvania, and as tenured Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas.
 
Subsequent to her academic career, Dr. LaPin joined UNICEF as a senior official in Benin Republic and Somalia, where she initiated new strategies for health, water supply, and strategic planning.  She later became manager of a worldwide project for the USAID Office of Health and Population.  From 1997 she served a major company in the oil industry as a social investment manager, based for five years in the Niger Delta and two years in Oman, leading the design, staffing, implementation, and evaluation of sustainable community development programs.  She is currently an Associate in the African Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania and a consultant for the private sector and international development agencies on best practice social policy and investment.  She also serves on the Board of the Phi Beta Kappa Association of the Washington DC area.

Stephen O'Brien

Steve O’Brien is a retired Chief Economist from the World Bank. For 24 years, Mr. O’Brien was employed by the Bank and held the positions of Senior Economist for Eastern Africa, Division Chief for Operations in the Philippines, Chief Economist for West Africa and later for Sub-Saharan Africa, Chief of Regional Mission for Eastern Africa and Kenya, and lastly as Adviser to Human Resources on field office staffing. 

Since his retirement in 1997, Mr. O’Brien has worked on several projects relating to economics, corruption, aid policy, and development.  Some examples include the evaluation of an IDA Economic Recovery and Rehabilitation Credit for Eritrea in 1997; team leader of World Bank missions assessing corruption in Tanzania and Uganda and the effectiveness of anti-corruption programs there in 1998; co-author of a Kenya case study on Aid and Policy Reforms in Africa for the World Bank Research Department in 1999; as adjunct professor at both The George Washington University and Johns Hopkins University; and most recently on various assignments with World Bank Independent Evaluation Group in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Malawi, and Cambodia. 

Steve received his Bachelors in Business Administration from the University of Kansas and his Masters in Economics from Stanford University. 

Wasiq N. Khan

Wasiq N. Khan holds a Ph. D. in Economics, an M.A. in International Political Economy, and a B.A. in Political and Social Thought.  Dr. Khan has served as a consultant at the World Bank on projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and in sub-Saharan Africa.  In 2005, Dr. Khan worked with the Bank on a Social Development project for the MENA region, focusing specifically on youth unemployment in the region. 

From 2002-2003, Dr. Khan worked on the AIDS Campaign Team for Africa, which focused on HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation efforts in Africa. He has presented economic research on the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the dynamics of global labor migration, and the efficacy of foreign food aid at the American Economics Association, the Eastern Economics Association, and the Southwestern Economics Association. He has also been published in the American Economics Association Annual Meeting Papers and in the International Public Policy Review.

Currently, Dr. Khan is an assistant Professor of Economics at the Franklin College Switzerland in Switzerland and at the University of Saint Mary in Kansas, USA. 

Staff Biographies

Anne Johnson

 Anne Randall Johnson is Director for Busieness Development. Anne has Masters degrees in Middle East/Islamic Studies as well as International Development Management.  She has 20 years of international program management experience, much of it in post-conflict countries.  She specializes in community-driven development, local governance and capacity-building programs for civil society organizations involved in economic and social development.   She has worked in former Yugoslavia, Egypt, West Bank/Gaza, Afghanistan and Nigeria.  Her work in Afghanistan and Serbia focused on programs mobilizing citizens to participate in local development planning and to gain skills in local governance. Her other project work has included supervision of rural development grants programs, small enterprise development and micro-finance programs for women.  Anne has worked for PFD on several occasions including the launching of PFD in Nigeria in 2000, and as Country Program Director for PFD in Nigeria. 

Ediri Iruaga

Ediri Kingsley Iruaga is currently serving as Country Program Director Partners for Development Nigeria.  Previously Ediri served as Deputy Country Program Director in Nigeria. He was born in Delta state, Nigeria and has a Masters degree in Agronomy from the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria.  Before joining PFD, he had over seven years experience in community development, program design, implementation and evaluation with substantial focus on women and youth.  He is experienced in developing proposals, project reports and designing entrepreneurship training for micro and small enterprises and loan recipients (women and youth) in underserved and conflict areas.  His area of specialization is microfinance and business development services and he is a master trainer for a curriculum which PFD helped to develop which is entitled Nigerian Agricultural Enterprise Curriculum (NAEC), featured in many PFD projects. 

Jonathan Garrett

Jonathan Garrett is a public health professional with a background in education. He graduated from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 2002. He is currently serving as Deputy Country Program Director for PFD in Nigeria. Previously, he served as Country Program Director for PFD in Cambodia. He has worked in Cambodia since 2002, first as an intern with PFD, then coordinator of the Koh Kong provincial program from 2003-2005, then as Program Development Advisor in 2005 and 2006, and as Deputy CPD from November of 2007 through the end of 2008. In his time in Cambodia he has also worked with CARE, Save the Children, and CESVI (Cooperazione e Sviluppo). Prior to joining PFD Jonathan lived and taught in Spain, Japan, and in Turkmenistan as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Paul Warmka

Paul Warmka is Country Program Director of PFD in Tanzania.  Paul has a Bachelors Degree in Agronomy from the University of Wisconsin and over 30 years international development experience, primarily in East and West Africa. Paul previously worked for PFD as Country Program Director in Bosnia from 2007-2009. His experience includes agricultural extension; design, implementation and management of rural development projects; and management of country programs with a portfolio of development projects.  A major focus has been on improving rural livelihoods through sustainable rural enterprise development in such diverse areas as delivery of production inputs, community water supply, marketing credit and palm oil processing.  Paul’s current focus is on the implementation of a people-friendly and environmentally sound Jatropha bio-fuel program in Tanzania.