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Board of Directors

Portrait of Eleanor Allen

Eleanor Allen

Director and Board Chair

Eleanor has dedicated her career to improving lives through her work in water and sanitation. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic, and as an engineer, has lived and worked in numerous countries. As former CEO of Water For People, she has been dedicated to bringing lasting access to safe water and sanitation to people around the world. She loves ultra-cycling and exploring the outdoors with her family. Eleanor holds a BS from Tufts University and an MS from UC Berkeley. 

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About Eleanor
Portrait of Samson Bekele

Samson Hailu Bekele

Director and Co-CEO

Samson joined Water For People as the Africa Regional Director in 2017. He has deep experience in strategic planning, managing finances and programs, strengthening fundraising, managing grant processes, and mentoring people. He has visited or worked in 25 countries – 18 in Africa. Samson is based in London and savors time with his two children and playing competitive table tennis. He holds an MBA from Strathclyde Business School, a postgraduate diploma in business analysis from Lancaster University, and a BA in Accounting from Addis Ababa University.

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About Samson
Portrait of Beatriz Bonnet

Beatriz Bonnet

Director

A native of Uruguay, Beatriz Bonnet is the President and CEO of Syntes Language Group in Denver. She is a seasoned translation industry executive, consultant, translator and conference interpreter. Over 25 years of industry experience. Member of Board of Directors, American Translators Association, 1999-2005. Chair, American Translators Association's Standards Committee, 2007-present. Also on the Board of the American Red Cross and the Coalition for the Homeless. She has an interest in nonprofits that promote women’s empowerment. Frequent speaker at industry and business conferences. A classically-trained musician, Beatriz's first experience in translation was translating concert reviews for the Houston Symphony. She never stopped working in the field and now enjoys leading and teaching the team at Syntes.

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About Beatriz
Portrait of Debra Coy

Debra Coy

Board Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair

Debra Coy is Executive in Residence with XPV Water Partners, the largest water-focused private equity fund in North America. She works with growth companies, utilizing her experience as an investment research analyst and strategic consultant to investors, companies, and municipal utilities. She also serves on the Boards of Directors for Global Water Resources Inc. and Willdan Group Inc. Ms. Coy is well-known in the water industry and is a regular speaker and columnist on water industry finance and innovation. She previously spent 20+ years on Wall Street, where she was a top-ranked analyst covering global water markets for firms including Janney, Charles Schwab, HSBC, and NatWest Bank.

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About Debra
Portrait of Rich D'Amato

Rich D’Amato

Director

Rich is the CEO of Brown and Caldwell, a leading environmental engineering and construction services firm. He excels in developing strategy and leading teams to deliver innovative services and solutions to municipal and private sector clients throughout North America and the Pacific.

Throughout his 30-year career, Rich has worked in operations and maintenance, consulting, process engineering, design, and construction businesses focused on developing client solutions for environmental, water, and wastewater infrastructure. He advocates for inclusive workplace culture and empowers staff to create an environment that works for everyone. He promotes diversity and inclusion through participation in numerous employee networking groups at Brown and Caldwell, including pride alliance, women at BC, and rising professionals. He regularly participates at industry conferences and panel discussions around diversity, equity, and inclusion topics.

Additionally, Rich is the Chair of the Board of Directors for Brown and Caldwell and a member of the Leadership Council for Water For People. He previously served on various non-profit boards, including the Board of Directors for the National Association of Water Companies.

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About Rich
Portrait of Mark Duey

Mark Duey

Director and Co-CEO

Mark joined Water For People in 2008 as coordinator of a school WASH program across Central America. He later became Latin America Regional Director, Chief Programs Officer, and is currently Water For People’s Chief Operating Officer. Mark was a consulting engineer and then a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras before joining Water For People. He holds an MS in Economics, Finance, and Management from the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and his BS is in Civil Engineering from the University of Nebraska. Mark is based in Denver and enjoys strong family ties to Central America where his wife and two of his three children were born.

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About Mark
Portrait of Vanessa Davison

Vanessa Davison

Director and Governance Committee Chair

Vanessa is the Managing Partner at Panorama Consulting Solutions, which helps government and business clients achieve digital business transformations. She brings a proven management track record with over 20 years of experience. She’s led multiple mergers & acquisitions and turn-around projects helping organizations achieve radical transformation and increase net profits. She has also served as a policy advisor to develop and implement strategies for effective citizen engagement and interaction. Vanessa has graduate certificates from Harvard Business School and the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. She holds a B.S. in Rhetoric and Legal Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. Vanessa has served on various non-profits boards.

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About Vanesa
Portrait of Pauline Idogho

Pauline Idogho

Director

Pauline is the Founder/CEO of Mocktail Club, a line of premium crafted ready-to-drink non-alcoholic cocktails inspired by her quest to find sophisticated and better-for-you alternatives to alcohol. Prior to founding the company, Pauline had a 15-year career in investment banking, international development, and renewable energy finance. This included companies such as the International Finance Corporation (the private arm of the World Bank), Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo, and the AES Corp. She has lived, worked, and traveled in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, which helped to inspire the rich and sophisticated flavor profiles of the Mocktail Club line. One percent of Mocktail Club’s sales go to support clean water access globally through donations to Water for People. Pauline is also the Treasurer and head of the Finance Committee of the Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association (ANBA). Pauline holds a B.A. in Economics from Howard University and MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

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About Pauline
Portrait of Katy Keim

Katy Keim

Director and Development Committee Chair

Katy is the Chief Executive Officer at LQ Digital, a digital marketing agency. Prior to joining LQ, she served as the Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Business Development and Alliances at Lithium Technologies. Prior to joining Lithium, she served as Executive Vice President, Marketing of ServiceSource Corporation. Katy has over 20 years of experience in business-to-business (B2B) marketing and software as a service (SaaS). She holds an M.B.A from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University (where she was an Austin Scholar) and a B.A. degree in History from the University of Virginia. She was a trustee to the Redwood Day School for many years.

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About Katy
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Irene Lofland

Director and Board Vice Chair

Irene Lofland is a strategic leader who is currently vice president of investor relations for DCP Midstream. With over 20 years of finance and risk management experience, she has held numerous executive roles leading treasury, information technology, internal audit, ethics and compliance and enterprise risk management. In 2015 she was named the Outstanding Woman in Business in Energy by the Denver Business Journal and in 2013 she received the Impact award from the American Heart Association. Irene grew up in Colorado and graduated from the University of Denver. She is passionate about community service and has dedicated herself to organizations which promote women’s issues, health and children’s causes. She has had the privilege to serve on the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce board, chair American Heart Association’s Go Red campaign/luncheon and corporate health committee, as well as serve as the executive sponsor for DCP’s Business Women’s Network.

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About Irene
Portrait of Greg McIntyre

Greg McIntyre

Director and Board Secretary

Greg is a retired engineering executive with over 38 years of experience in the global engineering and construction industry. He served on the Board of Directors for CH2M and as the President of CH2M’s Global Water Business Group. Greg most recently was the Executive Vice President for Jacobs Engineering Group Buildings & Infrastructure business, leading a team of over 11,500 employees delivering solutions for water, environment, transportation, and the built environment. Greg holds a BS in Environmental Engineering from the University of Florida and an MS in Environmental & Water Resource Engineering from Vanderbilt University.

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About Greg
Portrait of Katherine Milligan

Katherine Milligan

Director

Katherine is a Director at the Collective Change Lab, a think tank and capacity builder that provides social change leaders with practical inspiration, insight, and guidance on how to do the work of systems change. Named a "Top 100 Women in Social Entrepreneurship" by the Euclid Network, Katherine is affiliated with many innovation and entrepreneurship networks, including as a founding member of the Geneva Innovation Movement, an elea Fellow at IMD Business School Center For Social Innovation, an Accelerate2030 Advisory Council Member, an Unreasonable Mentor, and an advisor to The Wellbeing Project. She teaches courses on social innovation and entrepreneurship at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and Fordham University and is the author of over 17 publications, articles, and blogs published by International Institute of Economics, Stanford Social Innovation Review, MIT journal Innovations, Forum Agenda, and the Harvard Business School. Previously, she was the Executive Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, the sister organization of the World Economic Forum, which supports the largest community of late-stage social entrepreneurs in the world. Katherine received her B.A. from Dartmouth College and her Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University where she was a Pforzheimer Scholar and Sheldon Knox Fellow.

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About Katherine
Portrait of Shannon Music

Shannon Music

Director

Shannon is Co-Director of VIVA Idea, a think-action tank that contributes to solving the key sustainability issues in Latin America through research, capacity building, and knowledge management. She is Co-Chair of the Board of the Central American chapter of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investing (GSG) or Plataforma de Inversión de Impacto Centroamericana (PiiC). Ms. Music also serves on the Boards of VIVA Trust, FIFCO, the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE), and her family skating rink business. She sits on the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Committee of the Lincoln School Board. She was Interim COO for the Social Progress Imperative (SPI), where she helped develop the methodology for measuring social and environmental progress around the world. Prior to that, she worked as a consultant for the Boston Consulting Group and was Program Manager at New Sector Alliance. She has an MBA, MPA, and Psychology degree from Harvard University. Ms. Music lives in Costa Rica with her husband and three children.

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About Shannon
Portrait of Winifred Nabakiibi

Winifred Nabakiibi

Director

Winifred is a trained civil engineer who, through her career, has transitioned into an Institutional Development Specialist. Winifred runs a consultancy firm that is dedicated to helping utilities excel. As a water services consultant and a Certified Project Management Professional, Winifred brings to the water for People team her experience working with government, the private sector and with development cooperation in multi-cultural environments. Winifred’s philosophy of life is defined by a message from "The Leader Who Had No Title" by Robin Sharma: Regardless of who you are, where you are, and irrespective of what you do, you have the power to show leadership, to inspire, and to make a difference. Her current pursuit is in promoting the linkage of regulation to the sustainability of utility services. Winifred holds a BSc degree in Civil Engineering from Makerere University in Uganda and a Masters in Water Management from IHE -Delft in the Netherlands. Winifred is married with 3 beautiful children and is based in Uganda.

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About Winifred
Portrait of Matthew Ostrower

Matthew Ostrower

Director and Audit Committee Chair

Matthew is the Chief Financial Officer of SITE Centers, an owner and manager of open-air shopping centers. He has over 20 years of experience in real estate. Prior to joining SITE Centers, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Equity One Inc. Mr. Ostrower also served as Managing Director and Associate Director of Research, among other positions, at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Ostrower holds a dual M.S. degree in Real Estate and City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in History from Tufts University. Matthew has served on various corporate boards.

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About Matthew

LEADERSHIP NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Water For People Announces New Co-CEOs 
DENVER, March 14, 2022 — Water For People, a global nonprofit working to help develop lasting quality water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, is pleased to welcome Samson Hailu Bekele and Mark Duey as Co-CEOs effective on March 28, 2022. 
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Water For People Announces the Appointment of Four New Board Members
DENVER, December 16, 2021 —Water For People, a global nonprofit working to develop lasting quality water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in nine countries, is pleased to welcome Katherine Milligan, Pauline Idogho, Shannon Music, and Rich D’Amato to the Board of Directors.
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Eleanor Allen to Step Down from Water For People
DENVER, October 8, 2021 — The Board of Directors of Water For People announced that CEO Eleanor Allen will step down from the global water, sanitation, and hygiene nonprofit in 2022 once a new CEO is hired. The search for a new CEO has begun. 
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Water For People Announces New Additions To Board Of Directors
DENVER, December 16, 2020 — Water For People, a global nonprofit working to develop lasting quality water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in nine countries, is pleased to welcome Debra Coy, Greg McIntyre, and Winifred Nabakiibi to the Board of Directors.
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Water For People Announces New Additions To Board Of Directors
DENVER, January 16, 2019 — Water For People, a global nonprofit working to develop lasting quality water and sanitation services in nine countries, is pleased to welcome Vanessa Davidson, Katy Keim, and Matthew Ostrower to the Board of Directors.
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Water For People Announces New Additions To Board Of Directors
DENVER, January 4, 2018 — Water For People, a global nonprofit working to provide access to improved water and sanitation systems and services in nine countries is pleased to welcome Beatriz Bonnet, John Eckstein, and Irene Lofland to the Board of Directors.
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