Executive council - old

Board of Directors

Ali Berlin, Engagement Director and Mentor

Ali Berlin has been a life and relationship coach and consultant for almost 15 years. She is the founder of One Life, LLC and designs transformational programs for individuals, couples, and executive teams on topics such as relationship dynamics, practical spirituality, human potential and wellness. Ali earned her master’s degree and her coaching certification from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and her bachelor’s degree in human development, philosophy and sociology from Penn State University. Ali mentors Sharon Damas Batamuriza.

Barbara Bylenga, Founder and President

Barbara is a social entrepreneur and has 20+ years experience in the business world, 15 of which she has spent running her own market research consultancy. She has provided companies such as Levi Strauss & Co., Nike, Nordstrom, Microsoft and eBay with intelligence that informs product design, advertising and marketing strategies. Barbara is a member of the Executive Council of Bpeace (bpeace.org), through which she has led several projects in Rwanda. A graduate of Florida State and Michigan State, Barbara currently sponsors Malyse, a young woman from Rwanda who is attending Bucknell University.

Carol Chang, Chief Financial Officer

Carol is a Supervisor in the Corporate Accounting practice at Blue Shield of California. She spent five years at Ernst & Young, was a VP of Finance at KKR Financial, and Corporate Controller for a west coast based hedge fund. Carol received her B.A. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, her M.S. in Accounting from the University of Virginia, and is a licensed CPA in the state of California. She has volunteered with a number of organizations, including Wildtracks, Cross Cultural Solutions, the Marine Mammal Center and is on the board of Action For Nature. Carol assist Deb Lamfers in mentoring Charlotte Mughisha.

Athena Katsaros, Board Member and Mentor

Athena is the co-founder of StepUp Leadership, a leadership development company that works with the senior leadership of the most innovative tech companies in the SF Bay Area. Athena has delivered training programs in Afghanistan through her work with Bpeace and the Center for International Profitable Enterprise). She serves on the faculty of the Artemis program at the Thunderbird School of Global Management as well as the Bpeace Executive Council. Athena earned her B.A. from UCLA and her MBA from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Athena mentors Simin Wahdat from Afghanistan, who has a B.A. from Bucknell and a Masters from EMU . She also mentors Malika Ghafour from Afghanistan, who is attending Oberlin College as a Bonner Scholar.

Debra Lamfers, Mentor

Debra is a certified Co-active Coach with 15 years of experience as a business owner, creative director, team builder, and leader. As a founding partner at the creative design firm Lamfers & Associates, Debra worked with companies such as San Francisco Bay Club, Pearson Publishing, UCSF, and Wells Fargo Bank. She continues her education through the ‘Four Fold Way’ program and has volunteered as a caregiver at Zen Hospice Project and as a mentor at San Francisco General Hospital’s Art Therapy Program. Debra mentors Charlotte, the first Rwandan student to attend Whitman College.

Nancy Murphy, Mentor and Program Manager, College Admissions

Nancy is a strategist, writer, and communicator working with organizations that strive to shape the future. She is a leader and director of experience design and communications at Worldview Stanford, an innovative initiative at Stanford University that creates interdisciplinary learning experiences about the future (online + on campus) to prepare leaders for the strategic challenges ahead. Previously she spent 20 years at Global Business Network, the pre-eminent scenario-planning consultancy, as CMO, editor-in chief, and a member of the leadership and management teams. She also ran her own marketing communications business, consulted with Arthur D. Little and was a police crisis intervention specialist. She holds an AB (Phi Beta Kappa) in political science from Wellesley College and chairs the board of its alumnae Business Leadership Council. She also has an M.S. in criminal justice and sociology from Arizona State University. She mentors Rina Ntagozera.

Kristin Nicholson, Mentor

Kristin is an investment advisor at First Republic Bank in San Francisco and has been in the investment industry for 19 years. She received her MBA degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University. Kristin began her investment career as part of the MBA Enterprise Corps, a non-profit organization providing management support to local firms in emerging markets, with a year’s assignment in Brno, Czech Republic. She then continued on with another firm in Eastern Europe for two years. Kristin holds both a Chartered Financial Analyst and Certified Financial Planner designation and is a member of the San Francisco Analysts Society. She mentors Patricie, a graduate student at UC Berkeley, and Rina, an undergraduate student at Haverford College.

Linda Naugle, Mentor

Linda Naugle is the Director of the Northwest Region of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF based in San Francisco. She has worked at UNICEF for over 7 years, which has grated her the opportunity to see UNICEF’s work in the field firsthand in Rwanda, Panama, Belize, and Malawi and has spoken to groups and individuals around the country about her experiences in an effort to raise funds and awareness about alleviating poverty in the developing world. Prior to this role, she was a fundraiser for environmental and educational organizations, in addition to spending two years working in Costa Rica for a study abroad program. Linda holds Master of Arts in International Education from Michigan State University, and an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Spanish from Bucknell University. Linda co-mentors Nadege Sesonga with Veronica Samoulides.

Louise Trudeau, Essay Coach, College Relations Advisor, and Mentor

As founder of True Essays, Louise has been a college admission counselor for eight years, teaching writing skills for applications, college and beyond, and counseling on college and career choice. She has 25+ years experience as a strategy consultant, providing market intelligence, analysis and new product development for companies such as 3M, Rubbermaid and Kellogg’s. She began her strategic planning career at GE in Belgium and at Rockwell International’s Space divisions, and has an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School. Louise currently serves as President for a low-income housing nonprofit, and is a member of National Association of College Admissions Counselors, its international affiliate, and Higher Education Consultants Association. She mentors Peninah Ingabire, an undergraduate at Muhlenberg College.

Mary Jane Luck, SHE-CAN Board Member

Mary Jane is Vice President of the Levi Strauss & Co. Red Tab Foundation Board, President of the Tyner Family Foundation and also a member of the Board of Directors for the Great Lakes Collaborative for Autism. Mary Jane completed her corporate career in Market Research in 2006 at Levi Strauss and Co. where she worked for over 25 years. Her responsibilities included directing the company’s Market Research efforts as head of Global Consumer Insights.

The Team in Rwanda

Susan Mbabazi, Kigali Program Director

Susan manages the day-to-day work coordinating the candidates. She currently works for Carnegie Mellon’s Kigali campus as Admission Director. She has worked at Rwandatel as a manager of Quality Assurance and with Bpeace where she coordinated training programs and business consulting for Rwandan entrepreneurs. Susan also participated in The Karuna Peacebuilder’s Rescuers Project where she helped record the stories of those who protected targeted groups during the Rwandan Genocide. She is a graduate of Kigali Institute of Education.

Richard Niwenshuti, Kigali Partnership Development Manager

Richard creates relationships with local schools and organizations. He is an SME development consultant who currently works with the World Bank/IFC in sub-Saharan Africa, and also consults with Kigali organizations including the Centre For Business Skills, Global Consult Group, Centre For Skills Development and Centre For Business Development. Richard worked at the forefront of launching the Business Council for Peace (Bpeace) program in Rwanda from 2003-2011, where he held the position of country program manager. He is a graduate of Kigali Institute of Education.