Our Board

Stephen Peel is a British businessman; private equity investor and philanthropist who, until 2014, was one of the senior partners at the global private equity firm TPG Capital. Stephen has recently founded his own private equity firm, Novalpina Capital. Outside of his business interests, he is the founder of SMP Policy Innovation Ltd, a not-for-profit policy organization aiming to promote, design and assist advanced government policy.

He is a member of the Trilateral Commission, sits on the advisory board of the Institute of State Effectiveness, is a member of the Global Partners Council of the Institute of New Economic Thinking, on the advisory board for the Centre for European Reform, is chair of the Tujenge Africa Foundation and is on the Board of the Jackson Institute of Global Affairs at Yale University. He has previously served on the board of Global Witness, chaired the advisory board of Open Contracting Partnership, and was a Commissioner on the IPPR’s Commission on Social Justice.

Mr. Peel received his MA from Downing College, Cambridge University in 1987, where he is a Wilkins Fellow, and represented Great Britain in the Olympic Games in 1988. He received a Master of Advanced Studies from the Jackson Institute of Global Affairs at Yale University in 2015. He was a Visiting Fellow of Practice at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford from 2006-2008.

Dr. Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey is the Board Secretary and president and co-founder of the Tujenge Africa Foundation. He is an award-winning social entrepreneur, humanitarian, and historian. Dr. Adjetey has served marginalized communities for over fifteen years and remains deeply committed to public service, pluralism, economic progress, and social change in North America and Africa.

In addition to TAF, he is Director or Advisor on multiple Boards: The Yale International Alliance, which promotes internationalism and citizenship; Inspirit Foundation, a non-profit that leverages impact investing to advance pluralism and civic engagement in Canada; founding Director of Dream Maker Ventures Diversity Fund, Canada’s first Black-led VC Fund for North America, the Caribbean, and Africa; and the Road Home, a think tank and advocacy group for youth on the margins.

Dr. Adjetey is Assistant Professor of History at McGill University. He earned the Ph.D., M.Phil., and M.A. from Yale University.

Etienne Mashuli is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Tujenge Africa Foundation. He is a blogger, connector, educator, Africanist and political activist. Born in Rwanda in 1986, he is among the last generation that witnessed and survived the Rwandan civil war and subsequent genocide. In 2007, Etienne won a full scholarship to attend North Central College where he graduated with the Senior Man Award, the highest honor bestowed to a graduating senior. Previously, Etienne had been honored as the “Outstanding Senior in Political Science”. In 2010, Etienne was invited to cover the high-level UN Millennium Goals discussions as an Oxfam Voice Fellow. He is a member of the Oslo Freedom Forum, a human rights organization dubbed the “Davos for dissidents.” Etienne holds an MA in African Studies from Yale University where he attended as a recipient of the prestigious Paul and Daisy Soros New American Fellowship. Moreover, he has gained extensive teaching experience working with underprivileged high school students in New Haven and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He is a senior fellow with Humanity in Action.

Ambassador Johnnie Carson was sworn in as assistant secretary of state for the bureau of African affairs, on May 7, 2009. Prior to this he was the national intelligence officer for Africa at the National Intelligence Council, after serving as the senior vice president of the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. (2003-2006). Carson's 37-year foreign service career includes ambassadorships to Kenya (1999-2003), Zimbabwe (1995-1997), and Uganda (1991-1994); and principal deputy assistant secretary for the bureau of African Affairs (1997-1999). Earlier in his career he had assignments in Portugal (1982-1986), Botswana (1986-1990), Mozambique (1975-1978), and Nigeria (1969-1971). He has also served as desk officer in the Africa section at State's bureau of intelligence and research (1971-1974); staff officer for the secretary of state (1978-1979), and staff director for the Africa Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives (1979-1982). Before joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Carson was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania from 1965-1968. He has a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from Drake University and a Master of Arts in International Relations from the School of Oriental and Africa Studies at the University of London. Ambassador Carson is the recipient of several Superior Honor Awards from the Department of State and a Meritorious Service Award from Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The Centers for Disease Control presented Ambassador Carson its highest award, "Champion of Prevention Award," for his leadership in directing the U.S. Government's HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in Kenya.

Roman is a financial professional dedicated to catalyzing positive change in the world through impactful initiatives. Currently serving as the Chief Financial Officer at Apollo Agriculture, he focuses on empowering smallholder farmers in Kenya and Zambia. In his previous roles, Roman played an important role in the growth of disruptive fintech startups, leading Revolut's Corporate Development team and serving as the Chief Financial Officer at Wirex. Before venturing into the startup realm, Roman served as a Vice President at Morgan Stanley's investment banking team.

Roman holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; and Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Applied Mathematics and Physics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Roman is a CFA charterholder and has completed the Wharton School Entrepreneurship Program.

Sasha Chanoff is the co-founder and executive director of RefugePoint. He has worked for two decades in refugee rescue, relief and resettlement operations in Africa and the United States. Prior to launching RefugePoint, Sasha consulted with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Kenya and worked with the International Organization for Migration throughout Africa, identifying refugees in danger, undertaking rescue missions and working on refugee protection issues with the US, Canadian, Australian and other governments. Sasha has worked extensively with many refugee populations, including Sudanese Lost Boys, Somali Bantus, Congolese Tutsis-at-risk, Liberians and Sierra Leonians among others. He has appeared on 60 Minutes as well as in other national and international TV, radio and print media outlets, has lectured, presented and given keynote speeches at universities and international refugee conferences and has published extensively on refugee issues. Sasha holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an M.A. in Humanitarian Assistance from the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Friedman School of Nutrition, Science and Policy, a joint degree program implemented through the Tufts Feinstein International Famine Center. At the Fletcher and Nutrition schools his focus was on NGO management, ethics and humanitarianism, humanitarian aid in complex emergencies, nutrition in complex emergencies and forced migration. Chanoff has received fellowships from Ashoka, the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, and Echoing Green and is a recipient of the Charles Bronfman Humanitarian Prize and Gleitsman International Activist Award. He is a member of the steering committee for New England International Donors, and serves as an adviser to a private human rights foundation. He is also an adviser to the major motion picture The Good Lie, and its charitable initiative The Good Lie Fund.

Matt Chanoff is San Francisco-based angel investor who has worked with more than 30 early stage companies, helping them to design business models and strategies and develop marketing and implementation strategies. He has drafted more than 40 business plans, which have been used to raise at least $20 million in early-stage investment and over $50 million in Series C and mezzanine investment. He is an early investor in Florence Healthcare, RoadSync, Damballa, CodeGuard, Ionic Security, Parmonic, and SmartPM, among others.

Chanoff is the comanager of Profounder LCC, a seed stage investment fund established in 2008. He is a co-founder of Damballa and Pramana, two early-stage Internet security-related companies. With Merrick Furst, in 2011, Chanoff cofounded the startup studio Flashpoint, a first-of-its-kind deliberate innovation studio, to develop formative leaders and exceptional technology startups. Flashpoint was the thirty-sixth startup accelerator worldwide, very early in the development of business accelerators. He has served on the boards of early-stage logistics and cybersecurity companies, and he currently sits on seven non-profit boards in the areas of poverty, media, and education, with a particular focus on East Africa.

Prior to his investment career, Chanoff served as Chief Economist for Technology Forecasters Inc., designing and implementing broad-scale market assessments and market-entry strategies in the U.S, China, and Southeast Asia for Fortune 500 companies in several industries, including electronics manufacturing and components, high-tech materials, software, investment, and professional services.

Chanoff holds a Master of Arts degree in International Economics and Politics from the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.

Dalton McGuinty served as Ontario's 24th Premier from 2003 until 2013. He led a government determined to make a positive impact on Ontarians at every stage of life.

His government introduced North America's first full-day kindergarten program, reduced class sizes and hired more teachers, resulting in dramatically higher test scores and graduation rates.

The McGuinty government created 200,000 more spaces in post-secondary education, invested $4 billion in new classrooms and facilities, and introduced the 30% Off Ontario Tuition grant. Investments in health care — including more doctors and nurses, family health teams, nurse practitioner-led clinics and over 100 hospital projects — led to Canada's shortest wait times and one million more Ontarians getting access to a family doctor. The McGuinty government took the lead in creating a cleaner environment for Ontarians by closing Ontario's coal plants, making the province the first jurisdiction in North America to fully eliminate coal as a source of electricity generation. The government's green energy and clean water initiatives helped create over 28,000 jobs.

McGuinty also created Ontario's 1.8 million acre Green Belt, the world's largest protected greenspace. To strengthen the Ontario economy, the McGuinty government made record investments in infrastructure and cut taxes on new business investment in half – helping create 565,000 net new jobs. McGuinty also led trade missions to China, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Israel, the West Bank and Lebanon, generating over $1.5 billion in agreements.

Since leaving politics, McGuinty completed a fellowship at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. He is now the Special Advisor to the President of Desire2Learn, an Ontario education technology company, and a Senior Fellow at the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto. He also serves on corporate and non-profit Boards.

Before entering politics, McGuinty practised law in Ottawa. He and his wife, Terri, have four grown children.

Forthcoming

Alexander Slater is a senior financial officer at the World Bank, where he specializes in development finance and expanding the institution's capacity-building services to central banks, pension funds and future funds in middle- and low-income countries. Previously, he served as an advisor to World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim on matters of speechwriting, strategy, and policy, with a focus on gender equality and conflict and fragility.

Before coming to the World Bank Group, Alexander was a counsel in the New York office of the international law firm O'Melveny & Myers, where he represented Fortune 100 corporations, non-profit organizations, and individuals in criminal and congressional investigations. He had a significant pro bono practice, providing legal assistance to Holocaust survivors, the disabled, and families of deceased military veterans. He also served as a law clerk to Judge Barrington Parker on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and to judges at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Prior to his legal career, Alexander served as a legislative assistant for foreign policy and veterans affairs, speechwriter, and deputy communications director to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer; and as a special assistant to the Commissioners of the Departments of Transportation and Consumer Affairs at the City of New York, where he was an Urban Fellow. He also served as a communications consultant to the 2004 and 2006 federal election campaigns of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.

Alexander holds degrees in history, international relations and law from Yale, Oxford and Harvard, and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He was born in New York City, grew up in Toronto, and currently lives in Washington, DC.

After graduating from the University of California at Santa Cruz, Amy began her career in publishing as a Gal Friday at Writers House, a full service-literary agency, where she is now chairman. Early on, she founded the company's now-thriving children's department. Over the last thirty years, she has developed a diverse client list including bestselling authors Nora Roberts and Dave Barry, and Newbery Award winners Sharon Creech and Jack Gantos.