Across six sectors and over hundreds of companies, members of our alumni advisory board make up just a sample of where our alumni are now.
Jason J. Hunke (2016 - present)
Now: Director, Executive and Employee Communications, Office of the CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Jason leads the team responsible for internal communications at the foundation and external leadership voice for several members of the Executive Leadership Team. His career spans 25 years in corporate communications, with special expertise in the high net worth family office sector. Before the foundation his career highlights include serving as senior vice president of communications for Jackson Family Enterprises, general manager of the Seattle and Portland offices of Edelman, and more than a decade overseeing communications, marketing and global events at Vulcan Inc.
Josh Jarrett (2006-2013)
Then: Deputy Director, Post-Secondary Success
Now: Chief University Officer and Co-founder, InStride
Josh is the Chief University Officer and Co-Founder of InStride, where he oversees the educational product offering and the consortium of InStride university partners. Prior to InStride, Josh was the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Koru, where he developed industry-leading predictives hiring solutions for Fortune500 clients like Citigroup, Oracle, and Barclays. Earlier in his career, Josh served as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, product manager at Enkata Technologies, and consultant for the National Park Service.
Stefanie Sanford (2002-2013)
Then: Director of Policy and Advocacy, US Programs
Now: Chief of Global Policy and External Relations, The College Board
Stefanie oversees the College Board’s Communications and Marketing, Policy, and Government Relations departments and strategic funder relationships. Prior to the College Board, Stefanie held positions at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, policy roles in both Republican and Democratic offices at the state level, and was a White House Fellow in the Office of Cabinet Affairs. She is a member of the board of America’s Promise Alliance and a trustee of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. A native Texan, Stefanie holds a B.S. from Texas Christian University, an MPA from Harvard University, and a PhD from the University of Texas. She is the author of Civic Life in the Information Age: Politics, Technology, and Generation X.
Rebecca Sears (1999-2003)
Then: Senior Networking Specialist, US Library Program
Now: Assistant Director, Technology and Social Change Group (TASCHA), University of Washington Information School
Rebecca is Assistant Director of the Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA) at the University of Washington Information School, providing leadership and subject expertise on issues ranging from digital development to global libraries, and information polity to digital ethics. Prior to her work at TASCHA, she led consumer protection public outreach and education for the Washington State Office of the Attorney General and provided management consulting for a professional services firm. She holds an MPA from the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance.
Sema K. Sgaier, PhD (2008-2015)
Then: Program Officer, Avahan Office: HIV prevention programs in the states of Karnataka, Manipur and Nagaland; Initiative Lead and Senior Program Officer, Global Male Circumcision Initiative
Now: Co-Founder & Executive Director, Surgo Foundation
Sema leads the overall strategy, management, and implementation of the Surgo Foundation. She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Prior to her work at the Gates Foundation, she was a scholar at Harvard Medical School and a fellow with the Centre for Global Health Research. Sema has led several large-scale programs and research and evaluation projects and has worked with governments in India and Africa on public-health policy and large- scale delivery. She received her PhD in Genetics from New York University, her M.A in Neuroscience from Brown University and a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Bogazici University (Istanbul, Turkey). She is passionate about cross-fertilizing approaches and lessons between disciplines to solve global health problems.
Peter M. Small, M.D. (2002-2015)
Then: TB Program Global Leader, Deputy Director of Tuberculosis Delivery, and India TB Program Leader
Now: Senior Director, Global Health Technologies, Global Good
Peter spent roughly a decade as a clinician in San Francisco at the dawn of the AIDS era and a decade as a scientist at Stanford University during the explosion of genomics. In 2015 he left the Foundation to start a Global Health Institute at Stony Brook University focused on improving human and ecosystem health in Madagascar and other poor countries. Following a stint as a Rockefeller Fellow exploring ways to use digital technology to directly empower people to improve the health of their communities, in September of 2019 he joined Global Good to run their Global Health Technologies program.
Amy Adelberger (2006-2012)
Then: Program Officer, Tuberculosis, Global Health
Now: Founder and CEO, Global Impact Advisors
Amy founded and leads Global Impact Advisors (GIA), a boutique strategy and evaluation advisory firm, through which she has advised foundations, non-profits, and universities on achieving their program outcomes and enhancing their impact. In addition to leading all aspects of the consulting business, she has extensive experience in the implementation of multi-stakeholder partnerships where donors, government agencies, and implementing organizations collaborate to achieve desired outcomes. Additionally, she works with organizations to evaluate their strategies and enhance their organizational effectiveness. She is passionate about health and the environment. She enjoys exploring the Bay Area with her husband and three young kids.
Liane Fernyhough (2007-2012)
Then: Program Assistant, Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health
Now: Family Nurse Practitioner, Valley Medical Center Primary Care Clinic, Kent, Washington
Liane is a passionate and caring professional. She is a primary care provider at the front lines of healthcare. She is working as Family Nurse Practitioner at a health clinic through Valley Medical Center where has the opportunity to impact the lives of patients in great need, including many refugees and underserved groups. While at the foundation she was a Program Assistant and her focus on the alumni board is to help represent those who worked in operations and support roles while at the foundation.
Murad Habibi (2011-2015)
Then: Business Analyst
Now: Digital Product Manager, Unify Consulting
Murad is energized by intellectually independent people, and by environments with a bias toward action. His most recent work has been as a consultant at Revel, a human-centered design business management consulting firm in Seattle. Prior to the foundation he worked as a user experience consultant at Accenture. His interests include reading, traveling, design and technology.
Annemarie Hou (2000-2003)
Then: Chief of Staff, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
Now: Executive Office of the Secretary-General, United Nations
Annemarie is responsible for positioning HIV and development issues in the global landscape and advancing UNAIDS’ vision and strategies. Prior to joining UNAIDS, Annemarie worked in the philanthropic field. She was the Communications Director at Casey Family Programmes, a foundation dedicated to child welfare issues. Annemarie started her career as a television journalist.
Julie Jensen (2013-2017)
Then: Director Human Resources, Business Partner team
Now: Independent Consultant, focusing on leadership and team effectiveness
Having retired from full-time work, Julie uses her passion for helping individuals and teams work at their highest potential in her consulting practice. With over 25 years of experience in a variety of strategic HR roles, her practice focuses on aligning an organization’s strategy and objectives to their organizational structure, governance processes, and people practices. Julie’s expertise includes organizational design, leadership development and coaching, team effectiveness, conflict resolution, and diversity and inclusion. Julie has a Masters in Administration and a BA in Economics, both from UC Davis.
Tjada D’Oyen McKenna (2006-2010)
Then: Senior Program Officer, Agricultural Development
Now: Chief Operating Officer, CARE
Tjada is the Chief Operating Officer at CARE, where she oversees CARE's operations in more than 90 countries and works hand in hand with Nunn and others to scale CARE's fight against poverty and social injustice. Prior to joining CARE, Tjada spent three years at another Atlanta-based global nonprofit, Habitat for Humanity. In 2010, she joined the Obama Administration where she oversaw the US government's signature food security initiative, Feed the Future. She has a bachelor's degree from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She and her husband, Joe, have two young sons and reside in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jaime Najarro (2017 Summer Intern)
Then: MBA intern, US Programs, Pacific Northwest team
Now: Consultant, Bridgespan
Born and raised in Honduras, Jaime moved to San Francisco to pursue higher education. After attending community college, he transferred to UC Berkeley to study Political Economy. Post-college, Jaime worked as an educator while volunteering at a college-access nonprofit. He then moved on to Oakland Unified School District to work on the implementation of a professional development system for teachers and principals. Jaime is pursuing an MBA in operations and management at the Wharton School, as well as an MPA at Princeton University. Passionate about education and workforce development, Jaime interned for the Pacific Northwest team at the Gates Foundation in 2017. Jaime also consulted for an education technology company based in Mexico City that focuses on closing the skills gap through blended learning.
Emelda Aluoch Okiro (2014-2016)
Then: Program Officer/Gates Fellow, Integrated Development, Global Health
Now: Senior Research Fellow |Technical Advisor Lead - Population Health, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya
Emelda heads the Population Health Unit within the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya, which aims to understand determinants of health transitions and vulnerabilities at fine scales across Africa and embed the use of data for decision-making by national ministries. She has worked on evaluating the public health impact of malaria control, on anti-retroviral treatment programs while at the Institute for Heath Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), and on developing strategies for primary health care at Philips Research Africa. Emelda has a PhD in Epidemiology, has been awarded two internationally competitive Wellcome Trust (UK) Fellowships, and is widely published.
Nisha Patel (2008-2011)
Then: Program Officer, US Special Initiatives & Postsecondary Success
Now: Managing Director, Narrative Change & National Initiatives, Robin Hood
At Robin Hood, Nisha founded and leads Mobility LABs, a pioneering, four-year initiative to spur the development of new solutions to sustainably lift families out of poverty, and to promote dynamic leaders to change the national conversation about social and economic mobility. She has more than two decades of experience leading and implementing initiatives to increase economic opportunities for low-income families. She was most recently executive director of the US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty at the Urban Institute. She served in the Obama administration as director of the Office of Family Assistance/Department of Health and Human Services and was previously a deputy director at the Aspen Institute. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and holds an MSW from Washington University in St. Louis.
Kanwarjit Singh, MD (2007-2010)
Then: Senior Program Officer, Global Health
Now: Head, Global Medical Affairs, Immuno-Oncology, Sanofi Genzyme
KJ has a keen interest in the paradigm-changing innovations in immuno-oncology and their impact on cancer drug development and patient outcomes. He is currently the Head of Global Medical Affairs, Immuno-Oncology at Sanofi Genzyme in Cambridge, MA. Earlier, he was with Pfizer Oncology in New York and with Johnson & Johnson as VP of Medical Affairs, Asia Pacific, and CMO at ASP in California. In addition, he has also led commercial and medical teams at Amgen and Bayer and worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company. He is a native of the Punjab in India and an alumni of Columbia Med (MD), MIT (MBA), Oxford (MPhil, Economics, BA PPE) and St Stephen’s College, Delhi (BS, Physics).
Zander Woollcombe (2012-2016)
Then: Senior Program Officer, Global Policy and Advocacy
Now: A wizzle consultant
Growing up Zander moved 32 times in 8 years across the US, USSR, Central America and Europe with his parents' musical Peace Child (more here). He rebelled against this by working for the Conservative Party in the EU, when that was a thing Brits did. He is passionate about bringing together unusual partnerships that use creativity and politics to create change. His work supports Peace Child's mission to "empower young people to be the change they want to see in the world". See www.woollcombe.com for more information.
