Global Management Team
We could not run an efficient and life-changing organization without the tireless efforts of our Global Management Team. Since the introduction of this team more than a year ago, we have been able to expand our mission and goals by overseeing the expansion of programs in the field, laboriously researching and reporting findings on progress of the women in the countries we work, while keeping the vision of Women for Women International close to the surface.
Zainab Salbi
Founder
Zainab Salbi is the founder of Women for Women International, a group that is dedicated to helping women survivors of war rebuild their lives. A survivor of war herself, Ms Salbi started Women for Women International in response to the rape and concentration camps in Bosnia in 1993. Since then, the organization has served more than 250,000 women in 8 conflict and post-conflict areas from Congo and Rwanda to Afghanistan and her native country Iraq.
Ms. Salbi is the author (with Laurie Bucklund) of the national best selling book "Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam," that is an account of life in Iraq and the hold that Saddam Hussein had over her family. She documents the stories of women survivors of wars in her second book "The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope."
For her life dedication to providing educational and economic training and opportunities for women survivors of wars, Ms. Salbi has received many honors including but not limited to: A White House Honor from Former President Bill Clinton for her work in Bosnia (1995), the Forbes’ Trailblazer Award (2005), Innovator of the Month by Time Magazine (2005) and most recently a nomination from President Clinton as a Harper's Bazaar 21st Century Heroine. Women for Women International was the recipient of the prestigious Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize Award in 2006.
Her work has been featured in major media outlets, including 8 appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and countless appearances on CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times.
Ms. Salbi has a master’s degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and BA in Sociology and Women's Studies from George Mason University. She is a blogger for Marie Claire Magazine and the Huffington Post and documents her travels and encounters with women worldwide on Twitter.
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President
ANDRÉE SIMON serves Women for Women as President & Chief Operating Officer. In this role she leads the global operations of Women for Women International. Ms. Simon joined Women for Women after 8 years at FINCA International, a network of 21 affiliates serving 700,000 clients across four continents. As Deputy Director of FINCA, Ms. Simon provided strategic guidance to FINCA's network affiliates and management team and managed the institutional strategy agenda, with direct oversight over Planning, Strategy, Policy & Technical Assistance, and Research. She also developed critical initiatives on Risk Management and Corporate Governance in addition to acting as interim CFO on several occasions. Ms. Simon oversaw FINCA’s presence in the Middle East, directly supervising programs in Afghanistan and Jordan. Prior to joining FINCA, Ms. Simon served as a strategy consultant with Marakon Associates. Ms. Simon is a Board Member of seven microfinance institutions around the globe. Ms. Simon is also a Board Member of WAM (Women Advancing Microfinance) International. She is an adjunct professor of Microfinance at Georgetown University and a frequent public speaker on microfinance and development. Ms. Simon received an undergraduate degree in International Relations from the University of Virginia. She holds an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and an MBA in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. She speaks French, Spanish and Japanese.
CloseKaren Sherman
Executive Director of Global Programs
Karen Sherman is the Executive Director for Global Programs at Women for Women International (WfWI). She provides dynamic leadership and strategic oversight of Global Programs and is responsible for the development and execution of the organization's programming in accordance with WfWI’s mission of serving women survivors of war and conflict. She spearheads efforts to enhance the impact, depth and scale of WfWI programming and advises the CEO, President, Board, and senior colleagues on global issues and trends. Prior to assuming this role, Ms. Sherman was Chief Operating Officer at Women for Women International where she managed the day-to-day operations of the organization. Her passion, vision, and creativity are pivotal in achieving the organization’s goal of affecting lasting change in the lives of women, their families, and communities.
Ms. Sherman has 25 years of multi-faceted international development experience spanning a wide variety of development contexts and challenges. She possesses a comprehensive understanding of the issues effecting countries in transition. Ms. Sherman specializes in the design, implementation and management of technical and financial assistance programs, and over the course of her career, has managed a diverse portfolio of economic, social and civic development programs targeting women, entrepreneurs and non-governmental organizations. Ms. Sherman has served on numerous Boards and has spoken to a wide range of audiences, including corporate leaders, the media and policy-makers. Most recently, Ms. Sherman delivered the commencement speech to the 2009 graduating class at Mary Baldwin College, an address that received praise from the College’s President, faculty, and students.
Prior to joining Women for Women International in 2003, Ms. Sherman served as Executive Vice President of Counterpart International. Ms. Sherman is proficient in Russian and has a Masters of Arts in Russian and East European Studies from the George Washington University. She is a proud wife and mother of three boys, an avid traveler, and active in her community both philanthropically and socially.
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Chief of Staff
Erika Lubensky is the Chief of Staff at Women for Women International. In this role, she leads a wide variety of strategic, cross-functional projects. Ms. Lubensky's professional experience includes Fortune 50 corporations and privately held businesses as well as extensive experience in the non-profit sector with international organizations. Her industry experience includes work with Procter & Gamble, Hewlett Packard, and E&J Gallo Winery.
Erika has a passion for social entrepreneurship and has worked as a social enterprise consultant with microlending organizations in Ecuador and with Survivor Corps in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most recently, Erika served as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Opening Doors, a nonprofit dedicated to work with refugees, immigrants and underserved people in Northern California.
Ms. Lubensky grew up in Ecuador and received her Master of Business Administration from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Ms. Lubensky is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Fellow and has frequently participated in speaking engagements and panels for the Forté Foundation and the University of Michigan.
CloseCharlie Winters
Chief Finance Officer
Charles Winters is the Global Chief Financial Officer for Women for Women International. Charlie has over 20 years of finance and accounting experience, including four years as a Certified Public Accountant in Upstate New York and sixteen years in health care in a variety of management positions at ValueOptions, Lumenos and Americhoice. He has a BBA in Accounting from Siena College and is responsible for all areas of finance and accounting.
CloseAlison Wheeler
Director of Marketing
Alison Wheeler is the Director of Marketing for Women for Women International. In this role, she manages the marketing for the organization, including fundraising and outreach efforts to the grassroots supporter base. Prior to joining Women for Women International, Ms. Wheeler was a member of AOL’s brand management team and was responsible for researching, developing and marketing new online services.
Her previous international marketing experience includes launching and marketing new publications in Eastern Europe, managing investment promotion for the Government of Portugal, conducting in-country consumer research and developing new market entry strategies in the Caribbean.
Ms. Wheeler received her Master of Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at University of California at Berkeley. She graduated with honors in History from the University of California Los Angeles and has studied at Universitá di Padova in Italy and Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.
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Chief Information Officer
Nicole Weaver joined Women for Women International in 2007 and serves as Chief Information Officer, with responsibility for the global technology infrastructure and sponsorship operations. Nicole’s background includes more than 25 years in various aspects of technology management and operations at Lotus, Borland and IBM. She spent six years with America Online managing software development projects for client, host and back office systems and three years managing and upgrading the technology infrastructure for their 11,000-person Member Services organization. Nicole delights in using technology to solve pressing real world problems and enjoys the challenges inherent in bringing technology benefits to the most underserved locations where Women for Women International operates.
CloseMara Dell
Executive Director, Human Resources
Mara serves as Executive Director of Global Human Resources where she is responsible for overseeing and managing all headquarters and global Human Resources efforts. Prior to joining Women for Women International, Mara served as Executive Director HR and Administration at Atlantic Media Company. In this capacity she served on the company’s Executive Committee and was responsible for building and leading HR, and managing the firm’s Creative Services (design team) and support services. Previously she worked with the Advisory Board Company and Corporate Executive Board where she directed Career Management, a revenue team as well as the Events Management function.
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UK Executive Director
Kate Nustedt joined Women for Women International as UK Executive Director in May 2009. She is an experienced global campaigner and has run high-profile campaigns on social justice, women's rights, anti-poverty and environmental issues.
Kate is building the profile and support base for Women for Women International in the UK, and she leads the organization’s global campaigning. She runs the Join Me on the Bridge campaign which takes place on International Women's Day, March 8. For the first campaign in 2010 there were 119 events in 21 countries, and this year there were 464 events in 70 countries.
Kate was a key part of the Labour Party’s campaign team that won the landslide general election in 1997, and she has since managed campaigns and communications teams at Greenpeace, ActionAid and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People. She was an Associate Partner with Brunswick Group, a leading public relations agency.
Kate is a graduate of Oxford University and Cass Business School (London).
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