Emerging Public Leader’s Global Team
As leader of the pan-African organization at the center of the Emerging Public Leaders family, Abigail Kajumba is responsible for driving expansion of EPL’s proven youth leadership model, ensuring its high quality and inclusion, and building a diverse community of programs, Fellows, alumni and partners that share a common vision for a prosperous and equitable Africa, fostered by good governance.
Abigail is passionate about social, economic and environmental justice, and human and women’s rights. Over the past two decades, Abigail has overseen NGOs’ country and regional offices and programs across more than 20 countries in Africa. She has worked with and within governments, as well as with bi/multilateral institutions.
Prior to joining Emerging Public Leaders in 2023, Abigail was executive director of an Africa-based global NGO dedicated to preventing violence against women and children throughout the global south. Abigail is also a social entrepreneur, is active on governance boards and has spearheaded several businesses.
She holds a master’s degree in international development from SOAS, University of London.
Irene Wairimu is a versatile accounting and finance professional with over 15+ years of finance leadership experience. Irene has strong qualifications in developing and implementing financial controls and processes, she has a demonstrated ability to streamline business operations that drive growth and increase efficiency. Irene has worked with national and international nonprofit organizations where she served as an accounting and finance leader.
Irene holds an MBA degree from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA, and a B.A degree in Sociology from Kenyatta University, Nairobi Kenya.
Penelope Mawson brings more than 15 years of professional experience developing and implementing fundraising and communication strategies for ambitious non-profits in the UK, Asia and Africa – including recently leading on partnerships and communications for the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) during the pandemic, and supporting diaspora led non-profits in the UK through her consultancy work. She previously worked in Bangladesh and in the UK to secure significant resources for their Asia and Africa programs. She has a background in leadership for sustainable development, having held director level positions in organizations that support mid-career professionals in Africa in government, business, and civil society.
She holds an MSc in Environmental and Development Education from South Bank University, London.
With over 15 years of professional experience in Development, Richard has expertise in Strategy Development, Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, Knowledge Management and Quality Assurance. Prior to joining Emerging Public Leaders, he served as the Int. Strategy Evidence and Learning Director for World Vision International (WVI) West Africa and the Integrated Programmes Director for WVI Ghana. He supported development works within Sub-Saharan Africa and other contexts whiles working with key Government and corporate stakeholders on diverse portfolios. Richard’s career has led him to interface with key donor agencies such as World Bank, USAID, KOICA, MasterCard Foundation, European Union and others.
Richard holds an MSc in Project Management from the Open University in Malaysia as well as an MSc in Development Management and Bachelor’s degree in Publishing Studies from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. He also is a Certified Knowledge Manager from the Knowledge Management Institute of USA and Monitoring & Evaluation Professional-Tech Change Inc. – USA.
Margaret Wanjiku Mwangi is a management professional with over ten years of experience in human resources and administration. Working across various nongovernment organizations, Margaret has developed strong leadership, analytical and organizational skills.
Margaret is currently completing a Master’s degree in Monitoring and Evaluations and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business from The Open University of Tanzania.
June is an Accountant and Internal auditor with a progressive career spanning over fifteen years; with a strong conviction that Finance and Audit functions can and should provide organizations with solutions that not only improve their risk management but also operational efficiency, rather than just represent bureaucracy. She is an expert in setting up financial and internal control systems in different types of organizations; both corporate and non-profit. June also has vast experience managing funded fixed-term projects in accordance with various funders' requirements such as the EU, DFID, Mastercard Foundation, and the US government. She is passionate about motivating teams both in all settings to achieve specific objectives and she believes that cohesiveness in teams emerges from conscious and engaged leadership.
June is a Certified Public Accountant in Kenya and has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Amanda Douillette comes to Emerging Public Leaders with 5 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations, focusing on education and international development through communication. Amanda served as a middle school English teacher in Benin with the Peace Corps from 2019 to 2020 and was part of the global evacuation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amanda holds a BA in Communication and Journalism from George Mason University.
EPL Global Board of Directors
Abigail Burgesson is an Independent Development Practitioner and Philanthropy Adviser. She brings over 25 years of experience as an International Development Practitioner and Women’s Rights Advocate. She has worked extensively within the non-profit sector in Ghana with organizations across Africa and internationally.
Her broad background includes working with the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) for 21 years in different capacities, first as a consultant and later as a staff member at the Senior Management level. In these roles, she influenced and managed philanthropic and advocacy partnerships and networks while nurturing strategic relationships leading to the growth of resources to support women's rights work across Africa and the Middle East. During this time, Abigail was part of the two-team organizational leads for the Equality Fund partnership that drove the winning bid for a competitive tender process in 2019 run by Global Affairs Canada to administer a CA $300 million fund. Abigail now leverages her extensive experience for her Consultancy - Fern Resource Alternatives (Fern Consult), to support leaders and organizations at all levels and sectors.
Abigail holds a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Ghana, obtained an MA in International Relations from Boston University’s European Program in the UK, and completed training in International Negotiations from the Centre for Applied Studies in International Negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland.
Betsy Williams is the Founder and Co-Chair of Emerging Public Leaders. She also founded the President’s Young Professionals Program in Liberia and currently serves as PYPP International Advisory Board Chair and on the PYPP Liberia Board of Directors. Ms. Williams launched PYPP with Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf upon seeing the country's urgent need for a stronger civil service following two civil wars, and recognizing the potential of youth to drive that progress. Ms. Williams' work has focused on the intersection of social development, foreign policy, and global health, having launched and supported innovative programs at USAID, JSI, Asia Society and Physicians for Human Rights.
She graduated cum laude from Princeton University and is currently a Member of the Advisory Council, Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs (previously known as Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs). Betsy received her MPH from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University where she currently serves as Member of the Board of Advisors (previously Vice Chair of the Board of Overseers).
Christabel E. Dadzie is an international development specialist with over fourteen years of experience working on economic development in Africa, Latin America and South Asia leading projects in education, gender, agriculture, trade, social protection and youth employment with various international development organizations including United Nations entities and for the USAID.
Currently, she works with the World Bank as a Senior Social Protection Specialist, managing Ghana and The Gambia portfolios to promote social inclusion and end extreme poverty. Additionally, she supported the Social Protection and Jobs portfolio in Liberia, where she led the development and implementation of an adolescent girls’ program to revive businesses of young women that were shut down as a result of the Ebola Virus Disease crisis. Upon returning to Ghana from the US in 2010, she identified the need to promote Brain Gain among young Ghanaians by supporting the returnee transition. She, therefore, founded Ahaspora Young Professionals, an organization that supports Ghanaian professionals who have lived or studied abroad and return home to make a difference.
Christabel is on the Management team of the Moremi Young African Women Leadership Initiative and a member of the Women’s Advisory Board of The College of Wooster in Ohio, where she earned a Bachelors’ Degree in International Relations. She also has a Masters’ Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University.
Emmanuel Lubembe is an independent consultant and experienced transformational leader who has extensive experience both as Head of Public Service Transformation in the Government of Kenya and as a senior consultant in Deloitte and Touche, where he spearheaded performance improvements in national government and supported the creation and coordination of county regional blocs.
Emmanuel has worked as a lead mentor in public service performance and supported county and development partner programs aiming to improve the performance of public servants. He has spent over 30 years with the public service in various capacities, including institutionalizing Results-Based Management and developing the ‘One-Stop Shops’ initiative, which rolled out as ‘Huduma Centres.’ Emmanuel also introduced the concept of the Prime Minister’s Roundtable Meetings involving multiple stakeholders. Emmanuel served as the Head of Public Service Transformation in the public service, and upon his early retirement, joined Deloitte and Touche in a senior position focused on performance in the nascent county governments.
Since leaving Deloitte, Emmanuel has focused on both national government and counties in various capacities as a consultant, using his vast experience to support initiatives of the governments to fulfill their constitutional mandates, including a review of the automation of revenue collection in the counties.
He has an MBA in Strategic Management and comparative studies of countries with well-performing public services in Africa, Asia, North America and Europe.
Melissa Bukuru is the Principal for Financial Inclusion and Resilience at Ownership Works, a new nonprofit seeking to expand employee ownership of companies and build equitable wealth for all. Previously she was a Director at Lion’s Head Global Partners, an Investment Bank operating across frontier and emerging markets globally.
Melissa was an Analyst in Global Policy Development at Soros Fund Management where she managed several policy-related projects for the principals of the fund. Melissa has also worked at the Open Society Foundations in New York managing grants for African civil society organizations. She worked at the Council on Foreign Relations, where she did research on conflict, technology and democracy in Africa.
She holds a BA in Global Studies from The New School in New York, where she also studied creative writing. She was born in Burundi and spent her childhood in New York City and Quebec.
Michelle D. Gavin is a Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and an international policy leader with over fifteen years of experience in the public and non-governmental sectors. Previously, she was the Managing Director of The Africa Center. From 2011 to 2014, Michelle served as the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Botswana and the U.S. Representative to the Southern Africa Development Community. Prior to that, she served as Special Assistant to President Obama and Senior Director for Africa on the National Security Council.
Before joining the Obama Administration, she was an Adjunct Fellow for Africa and an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Michelle has also served as legislative director to U.S. Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO), spent six years serving as the primary foreign policy adviser to Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), and has served as the staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on African Affairs.
She earned a Masters of Philosophy in International Relations from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar; and a Bachelor of Arts from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Sharmi Surianarain serves as the Chief Impact Officer of Harambee Youth Accelerator in South Africa. Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator develops African solutions for the global challenge of youth unemployment. They have to date created a network of 700,000 youth and pathwayed over 160,000 into jobs and work experiences across South Africa and Rwanda. Sharmi brings extensive experience in human capital management, education, and facilitating links to employment across Africa, India, and the United States.
She served as Vice President of Lifelong Engagement at the African Leadership Academy (ALA) where she oversaw a network of 2,000 young African leaders, and managed ALA’s Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, Africa Careers Network, and ALA’s alumni engagement team. Sharmi is an Aspen African Leadership Initiative Fellow, Class of 2020, and sits on the Boards of Ongoza, Metis and is on the Advisory Council for the NextGen Ecosystem Builders Africa 2020.
Sharmi holds a B.A. from Harvard University, a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Todd Johnson is a Managing Partner at Sofala Partners, a leading Africa-focused strategic advisory and business intelligence firm with offices in London and Nairobi. Prior to joining Sofala, Todd served as the Risk Leader for Standard Industries, a privately held company where he directed all aspects of global non-financial risk mitigation, including deal and partnership risk management, political and country risk, and security intelligence. Todd previously served as the Johannesburg-based Risk Leader for GE Africa, managing all non-financial risk mitigation efforts for GE’s component businesses across sub-Saharan Africa, and he began his career at the Central Intelligence Agency, where he worked for eight years as a political-military intelligence analyst.
In addition to his professional roles, Todd currently serves as an adjunct lecturer at IESE Business School in Barcelona, where he co-teaches a course on business in Africa. Previously, Todd was an adjunct faculty member at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs, where he taught a graduate course in African politics.
Todd has a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction from the University of Kansas and a Master of International Public Policy with Honors from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Todd has published a variety of op-eds and book reviews focused on Africa, global security, and military history in publications including the Daily Maverick, Small Wars Journal, The War Room, Strategy Bridge, and Current Economics.
He is a former Council on Foreign Relations Term Member and is currently a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Royal United Services Institute.
T. Nelson Williams, II is the Chief Administrative Officer at Conex Oil and Gas Holdings and CEO of the Conex Foundation. He previously served as Managing Director at the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC), and Vice President at Bank of America.
He possesses a wealth of experience working 20+ years in leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. These include Bank of America, SunTrust Bank, American Express, Ticketmaster, First Investors Corporation and Bass Hotels International.
His civic involvement extends to International and local boards including, ECOBANK Liberia, YMCA, Teach for Liberia (Advisory Board Chairman), President’s Young Professionals Program (Board, Co-Chairman), American Management Association (AMA), the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
He holds a B.Sc. degree in Computer Science from St. Augustine’s University, an MPA degree from North Carolina Central University and an Honorary PhD in Christian Leadership and Business from CORE Kingdom University. Mr. Williams earned a certificate in Public and Private Human Resources from North Carolina State University. He also obtained a project management certificate from the Project Management Institute (PMI).
President Sirleaf served as the president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018, becoming the first elected female head of state in Africa. During her time as president, Ms. Sirleaf advocated for freedom, justice, and peace. In 2011, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in fighting for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work. Ms. Sirleaf was awarded the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership in 2017.
Prior to serving as president, Ms. Sirleaf worked for five years as Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa of the United Nations Development Program, as Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, and was the first woman to lead the United Nations Development Project for Africa. She received her Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard University.