Our People
A team of diverse, global staff committed to excellence

Global Team

  • Abigail Kajumba - Executive Director

    As leader of a pan-African organization, Abigail Kajumba drives the expansion of EPL’s proven youth leadership model, ensuring its high quality and positive impact, and building a diverse network that shares a common vision for a prosperous and equitable Africa, fostered by good governance.

    Before joining EPL, Abigail directed nongovernmental organizations’ country and regional offices across more than 20 countries in Africa. She has worked with and within governments, as well as with bi/multilateral institutions. She holds a MA in international development from SOAS, University of London, and a BScEcon in Anthropology and Sociology from Swansea University.

  • Irene Wairimu - Director of Finance and Operations

    Irene Wairimu is a versatile accounting and finance professional with over 20+ years of finance leadership experience. At EPL she developed and implemented financial controls and processes, streamlining business operations to drive growth and increase efficiency.

    Prior to EPL, Irene worked with national and international nonprofit organizations such as Greenpeace International and the Institute of Women Research among others where she managed an annual budget ranging from $5 – $38 million. Irene holds an MBA from Point Park University, a BA in Sociology from Kenyatta University, and a certificate in Business Management Essentials from Harvard University Business Online.

  • Penelope Mawson - Director of Sustainability and Communications

    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 for the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund during the pandemic, and supporting diaspora-led non-profits in the UK.

    She previously worked for BRAC in Bangladesh and the UK and secured 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.

  • Richard Nii Okai - Director of Programs and Learning

    Richard Okai joins EPL as the Director of Programs and Learning with over 15 years of expertise. He works to strengthen EPL’s strategy development, project management, monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management, and quality assurance processes.

    Previously, 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. Richard holds an MSc in Project Management from the Open University in Malaysia as well as an MSc in Development Management and a BA in Publishing Studies from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana.

  • June Mwangi - Finance Manager

    June Mwangi is an Accountant and Internal auditor with a progressive career spanning over fifteen years. She is an expert in setting up financial and internal control systems in different types of organizations. June also has experience managing funded fixed-term projects in accordance with various funders' requirements such as the EU, DFID, Mastercard Foundation, and the US government.

    Before joining EPL June was Head of Operations at SNDBX, The Village Experts and part of the finance team at Ushahidi. She is a Certified Public Accountant in Kenya and has a B.Comm from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa based in Nairobi, Kenya.

  • Margaret Wanjiku Mwangi - Operations Manager

    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 BBA in International Business from The Open University of Tanzania.

  • Marian Murerwa Bogere - Executive Associate

    Marian Murerwa Bogere brings over 15 years of dedicated and versatile multinational and multi-disciplinary experience within the nonprofit sector to Emerging Public Leaders. She has a wealth of expertise in strategic leadership and operational support.

    Previously, Marian worked for the International Justice Mission, where her commitment to driving positive change at the local and international levels was reflected in her proactive approach and collaborative mindset. Marian holds a postgraduate degree in International Management from New Delhi, India.

  • Amanda Douillette - Communication Associate

    Amanda Douillette joined EPL with five years of experience working with nonprofit organizations, focusing on education and international development through communication. She first served as EPL’s program associate and was responsible for supporting the curriculum development, monitoring and evaluations and project management around the launch of the program in Kenya.

    Previously, 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.

  • Winnie Shella - Program and Learning Associate

    Winnie Shella is an Agricultural Economist with over eight years of experience in research, policy advocacy, and program implementation. She serves as a Programs and Learning Associate at EPL, where she supports program design, data analysis, stakeholder engagement, and capacity-building initiatives. Prior to this, she worked as a Research and Policy Associate – Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) at the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP).

    She holds a BSc in Agricultural Economics from LUANAR and is currently pursuing an MBA in Project Management at the University of Malawi and is a Global Health Corps (GHC) Alumni. She has worked on research studies for organizations such as UN Women, FAO, World Food Program, and Heifer International Malawi.

Princeton in Africa - Meet our past fellows:

  • Nasya Blackwell (2022-2023)

    Nasya Blackwell was a PiAf from 2022 to 2023 and completed her fellowship with our partners in Ghana. She is currently serving in Taiwan as a Fulbright Scholar. Her goal is to help women and girls in Afro-descendant communities worldwide who face gaps in education, opportunities, and access by reducing policy barriers and helping to facilitate better implementation of women's programs. Nasya has a BA in Political Science and a BA in English with a minor in Spanish from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

  • Nduulwa Kowa (2021 - 2022)

    Nduulwa joined EPL as our organization's first Princeton in Africa Fellow and currently works as a gender lead on a consultant basis. A native of Zambia, she is driven by her curiosity to discover innovative solutions to some of the most pressing issues in the world today. For over six years, Nduulwa has worked to push projects and marketing campaigns forward at the University of Missouri - Kansas City's Innovation Center, The Women's Fund of Omaha and startups like WeJapa (now Payday). She is also the founder and host of the Dear Diaspora podcast. Nduulwa holds an MBA and a BA from the University of Nebraska - Omaha

EPL Global Board of Directors

  • Abigail Burgesson (2023 - present)

    Abigail Burgesson is an Independent Development Practitioner and Philanthropy Adviser and 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 background includes working with the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) for 21 years in different capacities. 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 is an alumna of the University of Ghana and Boston University’s European Program in the UK. She has completed training in International Negotiations from the Centre for Applied Studies in International Negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland.

  • Aissatou Bah (2024 - present)

    Aissatou Bah is a Senior Program Officer (Gender Norms Learning Agenda, GNLA) at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The GNLA team is tasked with sourcing learning and evidence to support leveraging entertainment media and cultural influence to effect societal-wide changes/shifts in norms that impact health, economic, and safety outcomes for adolescent girls and young women. Based out of Nigeria, she anchors the team’s grantmaking and strategy in Africa.

    Aissatou has previously worked for Empower-The Emerging Markets Foundation, BRAC USA, and the Government of Sierra Leone. She has over 15 years of experience working on girls’ and young people’s rights, programs, and movements. She exists to support, platform, and resource young Africans and their stories as a path to bringing about a more just and equitable world. Aissatou grew up between Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone was formally educated at the University of Ghana, New York University, and the University of California, Los Angeles.

  • Betsy Williams - Chair (2016 - present)

    Betsy Williams is the Founder and Co-Chair of Emerging Public Leaders. She is also co-founder of 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 H.E. former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Her 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, at Princeton University 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).

  • Emmanuel Lubembe (2023 - present)

    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, spearheading performance improvements in national government.

    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 spent over 30 years in the public service in various capacities. 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.

    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 (2018 - present)

    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 researched 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.

  • Todd Johnson (2020 - present)

    Todd Johnson is Co-founder and Managing Partner of Earlylands Advisory and has spent over 25 years working at the intersection of risk, strategy, and corporate affairs, with a focus on emerging and frontier markets. Prior to Earlylands, Todd was the global Risk Leader for Standard Industries, a privately held company with holdings that include some of the world’s largest manufacturers of building solutions and performance materials.

    Todd was the Johannesburg-based Risk Leader for GE Africa, a member of a strategy team that exclusively served then-GE CEO Jeff Immelt, and an intelligence analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency. Todd is currently a senior advisor at Concordant and is a visiting professor at IESE Business School, where he focuses on business strategy in emerging markets.

    Todd has a BA in Political Science with Distinction from the University of Kansas and a Master of International Public Policy with Honors from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He is a former Council on Foreign Relations Term Member.

  • T. Nelson Williams (2023 - present)

    T. Nelson Williams, II is the Chief Administrative Officer at Conex Oil and Gas Holdings and CEO of the Conex Foundation. He possesses 20+ years of experience 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. T. Nelson previously served as Managing Director at the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC), and Vice President at Bank of America.

    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. in Computer Science from St. Augustine’s University, an MPA from North Carolina Central University, and an Honorary PhD in Christian Leadership and Business from CORE Kingdom University.

  • President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - Chair Emeritus

    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.