Brendan Callahan
Founder, President

Brendan co-founded Achieve in Africa in September 2008 and manages the organization’s projects and general operations. In the private sector, he has developed strategies and established advisory partners and subcontractors for international business development contracts across Africa, the Middle East, and post-disaster Haiti on behalf of Lockheed Martin. Brendan is pursuing a Master of Business Administration at Georgetown University and serves as the National Coordinator for Nation Builders International's U.S. Global Ambassadors. He received a Graduate Certificate in Operational Leadership and Organizational Management from Drexel University and a Bachelor of Business Administration and Six Sigma Green Belt certification from Boston University. Brendan has a professional working proficiency in Swahili, and is optimistic about Achieve in Africa’s bright future.

Alyssa Snow
Founder, Vice President

Alyssa is an Account Executive for MS&L in Washington D.C., where she is part of many advocacy and public affairs campaigns. Alyssa is originally from Merrimack, New Hampshire and graduated from Boston University's College of Communication with a degree in Mass Communication and concentrations in Public Relations and Psychology. Alyssa previously interned for the Boston Regional Office of the Peace Corps, where she encouraged prospective applicants to travel around the world promoting peace.

Patricia Snow
Treasurer

Patricia was born in Amsterdam, New York. She graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology to become a medical technologist. She is currently the Blood Bank Supervisor at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua, New Hampshire. Patricia previously worked at the American Red Cross.

Donna Callahan, MPH
Secretary

Donna received a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California at Los Angeles and interned at the City of Hope. She holds a B.A. in Biology from Cal State University, Northridge and practiced nursing at Kaiser Hospitals. She has an active R.N. license and returned to college to update her skills while being at home to raise her children. Donna has held Auditor and Treasurer Positions with the local parent-teacher organization. She performs with the Village Voices Chorale, a community chorus group.

Denise Block, MSW
Board of Directors

Denise is a licensed clinical social worker in full time private practice in Arlington, Massachusetts. She received her Masters of Social Work from Adelphi University in New York.
In addition to her private practice she provides clinical consultation within the local practitioner community. Denise previously taught group work at Boston University School of Social Work.
During a visit to a remote Zambian village, Denise spent time at the local school where she observed a compelling combination of eager and committed students with a striking lack of basic supplies, furniture and learning tools. Inspired by this experience and subsequent trips to Africa, Denise has become a passionate advocate for improving the educational opportunities in Africa.

Bill Callahan, MSc
Board of Directors

Bill has a dual degree in Biology and Chemistry from California State University, Northridge. He also received a Master's degree in Chemistry from the same university. Initially, Bill worked at Person and Covey, Inc. and developed topical dermatological skin care products. Following his career at Person and Covey, he joined Amgen and has been with this company since 1990. While at Amgen, he has worked on PDGF (Platelet Derived Growth Factor) and BDNF (Brain Derived Growth Factor). Later in his career at Amgen, he was responsible for the formulation of N-Plate, which is now an Amgen lyophilized drug product and currently sold as a treatment for ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia). Currently, he is a Senior Scientist in the Analytical Formulation and Science Department at Amgen.

Leah Sciabarrasi, CFP
Board of Directors

Leah is a Partner with Crestwood Advisors, LLC. Previously, Leah was the Investment Services Associate at Bingham Legg Advisers LLC, in Boston, and Finance Director for a congressional campaign. Leah earned a B.A. from Brandeis University and is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). She is a member of the Financial Planning Association, the Boston Estate Planning Council, and Boston Women in Finance. Leah also is involved with the Women's Lunch Place of Boston and the Crittenton Women's Union.

Mark Wiesel
Board of Directors

Vice-president of H&W Independent Solutions, Mark has over 25 years experience in management development, business management and project development in both commercial and not-for-profit arenas. He is a highly effective facilitator for improving organization structure and communications to enhance quality of care and daily operations. Mark's experience in developing and delivering training curricula includes front-line staff development, management and supervisory skills, non-profit board development, leadership training, system and self-advocacy and other topics for staff and volunteers. Speaking engagements include those for the California Caregiver Resource Centers, University of Southern California, University of California at Los Angeles, National Association of QMRPs, Private Providers' Association of Texas, Developmental Services Network and California Association of Adult Day Services. Mark received his B.S. in Engineering from Stanford University.

Athanas Alphonce
In-Country Advisor

Athanas is a counseling provider to children living under vulnerable conditions such as orphans, the poor, and children living with HIV/AIDS on behalf of the Star of Hope Family Trust. From 2003 to 2008, Athanas worked with Youth Alive Movements as a facilitator in conducting behavior change seminars and workshops applicable in HIV/AIDS preventions, control, and management. From 2001 to 2003, he worked with Music Mayday, an organization that provides opportunities for creative and artistic development of youth in Africa. Athanas also works as a volunteer with students from the United States, particularly from Boston University and Rutgers University in Tanzania rural areas, building classes and teachers' houses as well as helping widows, orphans all other groups of people living in vulnerable conditions. Athanas received a Certificate in Installation and Basic Electronics from St. Gaspar's College in 2003 and a Certificate in Counseling from the Education for Better Living Institute (EBLI) in Nairobi, Kenya in 2007. Athanas lives in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

Bertram Jacobs, Ph.D
HIV/AIDS Advisor

Dr. Jacobs is an internationally renowned virologist and professor at Arizona State University. Dr. Jacobs has five years of experience working specifically in HEAL International's service area in Africa. In his work there, he has established relationships with numerous government and university leaders as well as community and private organizations working in the area of African and American medicine.

In 2007, Dr. Jacobs was awarded the distinction 'Innovator of the Year' by Arizona Governer Janet Napolitano, and in 2006, Dr. Jacobs was awarded USD $1 Million dollars form the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a vaccine for HIV. Dr. Jacobs' vaccine candidates are currently among the top candidates for a global vaccine for HIV.

Dr. Jacobs earned his BS from Rutgers University, PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and performed his Post-doc at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Jacobs is committed to providing medical support and working to ameliorate the epidemic of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in any ways that are possible.

Sterling Roop, MIR/AS
In-Country Advisor

Sterling works for the International Law and Policy Institute as an Advisor on the ongoing reconciliation process and Government of National Unity in Zanzibar. He conducts research and reports on the political, social, and economic impacts of the process. Sterling first traveled to Tanzania as an undergraduate anthropology student at Colorado College in 2002. After his experiences studying at the University of Dar es Salaam, he worked with his Swahili professor to start Learning in a Village Project, building and supplying learning centers in rural villages in Tanzania. He worked for a number of years at the Refugee Resettlement Office of Seattle helping refugees start and strengthen small businesses through microloans and small business education and assistance. Sterling earned his M.A. in International Relations and African Studies from Boston University.

R. Brian Snow, JD
Legal Advisor

Brian practices at his own law firm in Nashua, New Hampshire and provides legal advice as needed to the organization. Brian is also a scuba instructor and former assistant high school football coach. He earned a dual major in Political Science and Communication from the University of New Hampshire and his law degree from Boston College.

Ed Wilczynski, MEE
Self-Empowerment Advisor

Ed is the creator of the PowerCommunicators Program and President of PowerCommunicators, Inc., a non-profit educational organization. In the course of one of his many community service efforts, Ed realized that students he worked with in Washington, DC did not have the necessary communication skills to express or represent themselves effectively, and, hence, to pursue their ambitions and dreams realistically. He created PowerCommunicators, a communication/public speaking/life skills program for K-12 students, that has since been introduced into schools and youth organizations, as well as various adult training venues.

Ed has also been a Sponsor with the "I Have a Dream" Foundation since 1996, when he adopted a 3rd grade class of 60 Dreamers in Washington, DC, the Dream Class of 2006. Sponsors arrange for mentoring, tutoring, leadership training, and college tuition support for their Dreamers through the time they graduate high school. When his Dreamers graduated high school in 2006, 90% graduated on time and 70% were accepted to and subsequently attended college or trade school.

In addition to being a Sponsor, Ed is also the Chairman of the Board of the "I Have A Dream" Foundation of Washington, DC, and works with several other area charities. He has an MS from Harvard University and a BS from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Lois Blalock, JD
Olasiti Program Manager

Lois lives in Olasiti Village, Tanzania. She has a degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Oregon and did graduate work in that field on a project in France. She later received her law degree from the University of San Francisco and practiced employee benefits law as in-house counsel for AT&T in San Francisco until her retirement in 2005. Lois first went to Tanzania on safari in 1997 and, since 2002, has lead safaris and helped manage a safari walking camp near Loliondo in northern Tanzania. She has served on the board of a California-based charity where she ran its scholarship program and its classroom building projects in villages near Arusha, Tanzania. She currently is founder and president of The Hodari Scholars Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization that provides secondary school scholarships to Tanzanian girls in the Arusha/Moshi and Loliondo areas.

Alex Marti
Olasiti Program Manager

Alex Marti was born in Ngorongoro Tanzania, and was brought up along with his other eight siblings by his mother and step father. His family moved to Olasiti Village when he was a child, and he attended Olasiti Primary School Level 1 when he was 11 years old. Alex recalls that the classrooms had nearly 200 children per class, and there was a severe lack of classrooms and desks. It was during this time that Alex began to dream of becoming a leader of his village or government so that he could build more primary and secondary schools for the children in the area.

Alex graduated from primary school at age 17, and then worked for one year and every holiday for the next several years as a Mechanical Assistant to raise funds to go to secondary school. Since there were no secondary schools in the area, Alex walked 13 kilometers (8 miles) one way to school each day for a total of 26 kilometers (16 miles) per day. After four years, Alex was unable to proceed any further with his education because of a lack of funds. Alex then became a driver and professional guide in the Tanzania National Parks, where he continues to work today. While working through the years, Alex never lost his drive to become a leader in his village, and so in 2004, he won the election in his community to become the Village Chairman. In this volunteer position, which he was re-elected for and still holds today, he is the leader of the twenty-five member local government, who are also elected by the village.

Fokas Nchimbi, MAL
Learning Center Program Manager

Fokas grew up in a small village in southern Tanzania called Ulolela. Fokas was, and still is, the only person from Ulolela to go to college. Fokas earned his B.A. and M.A. in linguistics at the University of Dar es Salaam. Fokas has always been very grateful for his education and wanted to give back to rural communities. Fokas views education as the key to success, so he founded Learning in a Village Project to help give rural children the opportunity and resources to learn. Professor Nchimbi has taught Kiswahili and linguistics at the University of Dar es Salaam and with Peace Corps Tanzania. He is currently a lecturer at Mkwawa Univeristy in Iringa, Tanzania where he also directs the Swahili for Foreigners Program.

Collin Sasse
Web Administrator

Compelled to put his skills to good use and support this cause, Collin developed and launched the first version of Achieve in Africa's website, and has played an active role coordinating web development and site enhancements for the organization since. Collin is pursuing a B.A. in Liberal Arts and a California State Teaching Credential in Elementary Education from California State University, Northridge.

His favorite quote: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." -Theodore Geisel

David Fefferman
Online Strategy Director

David Fefferman is a scrappy young entrepreneur with a marketing background and a taste for entrepreneurial ventures. He is the founder and CEO of GrubUp, a mobile payment smartphone application and recently finished an Undergraduate Business Administration Major with a City and Regional Planning Minor and a Concentration in Engineering Leadership from UC Berkeley. He is especially enthusiastic about socially responsible ventures with a penchant towards "teaching a man how to fish"; hence his devotion to Achieve in Africa. Other interests include: green tech, art, the great outdoors, the sciences, and homemade root beer.

Sherrod Smith
Business Development Director

Sherrod currently works for General Dynamics in Washington D.C., where he does project management and efficiency analysis in their U.S. Senate Contract. Raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sherrod graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in Economics and a minor in Business Administration. While in college Sherrod was a member of the BU Men's Basketball Team and was an active participant in many school sponsored clubs including Finance Club and Undergrad Economics Association. Sherrod previously interned in the education and professional development department of America's Health Insurance Plans in Washington DC where he analyzed the departmental budget in effort to minimize unnecessary expenditures, answered customer inquiries, and coordinated meetings between AHIP representatives and health insurance companies to facilitate the sale of AHIP's insurance education and professional development services.

Kristin Todd
Communications & Development Intern

Kristin is originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She is currently a senior at George Washington University and majors in International Affairs with a regional concentration in Africa. Additionally, Kristin has studied at the University of Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain and Stellenbosch University in Stellenbosch, South Africa. During the school year, she works as a tutor for the DC public school system. Kristin is actively involved in several service organizations on-campus, including Epsilon Sigma Alpha, GW's only community service sorority, and has volunteered at numerous organizations in the DC Metro Area and abroad. Kristin plans to pursue a career in international development with a focus on education after graduating this upcoming spring.

Nathan Yee
Fundraising Director

Nathan is a consultant for Verizon Wireless, where he is responsible for driving business development growth through individual & business sales. Born and raised in Southern California, Nathan graduated from the University of California, Irvine and earned his degree in International Studies with an emphasis on East Asian Political Economy. He has an extensive background in customer and business relations, which are quintessential for his role. Additionally, he has strong volunteer and fundraising experience derived from his participation in Alpha Phi Omega, a fraternity advocating philanthropy, and his duties as an Eagle Scout. Nathan formerly volunteered as a fundraising coordinator for our organization.