Speakers

Special Guests

Agnes Kalibata

Agnes Kalibata
President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, or AGRA

Twitter Feed:
@Agnes_Kalibata

Dr. Kalibata is President of AGRA and member of the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition. She leads AGRA’s efforts with public and private partners to ensure a food secure and prosperous Africa through rapid, sustainable agricultural growth, and improved productivity and livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers. Prior to AGRA, Dr. Kalibata was Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI). She has held leadership positions, including Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Rwanda. She has worked for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Uganda and other agricultural development organizations. She sits on various boards including the International Fertilizer Development Corporation (IFDC), Institute of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, the Strategic Advisory Council of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH). Agnes is a distinguished agricultural scientist, policy maker, and thought leader. She holds a PhD in Entomology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.


Most Rev. Martin Kivuva

Most Rev. Martin Kivuva
Archbishop, Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa, Kenya

Archbishop Martin Kivuva currently serves as Chairman of the Commission for Development and Social Services for Caritas Kenya of the Kenyan Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was appointed the new Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa in 2014. Archbishop Martin was born in Muthetheni, Machakos County, and is a first born in a family of six brothers and three sisters. In 1961, his family moved to Kichaka Simba in the Kenyan coastal region, where he attended Kichaka Simba Primary School, then St. Mary’s Seminary Kwale. He studied philosophy and theology at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Nairobi and was ordained a priest in 1978 in the Archdiocese of Mombasa.


Gladys Mugambi

Gladys Mugambi
Head, Nutrition and Dietetics Unit, Ministry of Health, Kenya

Twitter Feed:
@gladysmugambi

Gladys Mugambi is the Head of the Nutrition and Dietetics Unit in Kenya’s Ministry of Health. She is the country’s focal person for the Scaling Up Nutrition Initiative. Gladys has 20 years of experience working in government at the district and national levels. She worked as a District Nutritionist with the Ministry of Health at the Thika District Hospital for ten years. She initiated supplementation through Early Childhood Development centers and developed a proposal for funding the national food fortification program. For five years, she spearheaded the implementation of the national food fortification project. Gladys has participated in research, co-authored publications, and participated in regional and global conferences. Gladys is a registered nutritionist and holds a BS in Home Economics from the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton, and a MS in Food, Nutrition, and Dietetics from Kenyatta University.


Chris Policinski

Chris Policinski
President and CEO, Land O’Lakes, Inc.

Chris Policinski has been President and CEO of Land O’Lakes, Inc. since 2005, and has been with the company since 1997. He has more than 35 years of experience in the food industry. Prior to joining Land O’Lakes, he held leadership positions with Kraft General Foods, Bristol-Myers Squibb and The Pillsbury Company. He serves on the board of several industry groups including the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition and the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, and is involved in local community boards including as a trustee of the University of Minnesota Foundation. Chris is a member of Catholic Relief Services’ board, and a member of the boards of Xcel Energy and Hormel Foods. Chris earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and a MBA degree from New York University.


Schuyler Thorup

Schuyler Thorup
Executive Vice President, Overseas Operations, Catholic Relief Services, or CRS

As Executive Vice President for Overseas Operations at Catholic Relief Services, Schuyler Thorup oversees programmatic activities in roughly 100 countries, with a budget of over $700 million and 5,000 staff. He ensures the fulfillment of CRS’ mission while particularly focusing on assistance to the poor and marginalized, respect for human dignity, justice and peace, and partnership with local institutions. Schuyler began his career with CRS in Angola in 1990, implementing emergency and relief operations in the midst of the country’s civil war. Since then, he has managed complex emergency and humanitarian programs in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Peru, has served as U.S. Regional Major Gifts Officer, as Country Representative for Armenia and Malawi, and as Regional Director. Prior to joining CRS, Schuyler worked for the Private Sector Division of USAID based in Sri Lanka, and was Coordinator of the Venture Capital Network of Texas at the Small Business Division of the Texas Department of Commerce. He holds a BA in Latin American Studies and Spanish from the University of Virginia and a MA in Public Affairs and Latin American Studies from the University of Texas, Austin.


Plenary Speakers

Veronica Imelda Awino

Veronica Imelda Awino
Nutrition and Health Advisor, Action Against Hunger

Veronica Imelda is a nutritionist with over eight years of experience in the field. She is currently the Interim Nutrition and Health Advisor with Action Against Hunger International, covering Kenya, South Sudan, Pakistan, and Uganda. She was previously working with ACF Canada, and has also worked as the East Africa region SMART coordinator, nutrition surveillance program manager, and nutritionist in ACF Kenya and South Sudan Missions with vast experience in implementing nutrition programs as well as nutrition related surveys and assessments.


George Bigirwa

George Bigirwa
Regional Head, East and Southern Africa, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, or AGRA

Twitter Feed:
@GeorgeBigirwa

Dr. George Bigirwa works with AGRA as Regional Head of East and Southern Africa. Prior to that, he was responsible for seed enterprise development in the same regional office, during which he helped establish and mentor over 60 seed companies. Before joining AGRA, Dr. Bigirwa worked with the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) for 22 years in capacities including administration and maize and rice crop development, which resulted in the release of six maize and five rice varieties widely grown in Uganda and neighboring countries. He has chaired the Maize and Wheat Network for Eastern and Central Africa (ECAMAW) and the East and Central Africa Rice Research Network (ECARRN). He currently sits on the Investment Committee for the African Seed Investment Fund and is a member of the Project Advisory Committee for the Sweet Potato Action for Security and Health in Africa (SASHA), a project of the International Potato Center (CIP). Dr. Bigirwa has published widely and has supervised postgraduate students. He obtained his BS and PhD in Plant Pathology from Makerere University, Uganda, and holds a MS from University of Reading, United Kingdom.


Betty Bugusu

Betty Bugusu
Managing Director, International Food Technology Center, Purdue University

Dr. Betty Bugusu leads the International Food Technology Center in the Department of Food Science at Purdue University. The Center’s focus is to develop and use food technologies to enhance food security and economic development in developing countries. She is also the Project Director for the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Processing and Post-Harvest Handling (FPL). FPL aims to increase access to safe and nutritious foods along the food value chain, such as in cereal and legume grains in Kenya and Senegal. Before joining Purdue, Betty worked as a Research Scientist with the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), and as a Program Associate for SUSTAIN, a non-profit organization with a mission to improve health and nutrition in developing countries. Early in her career, Betty worked for the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute as a researcher in food processing, product development, and value-added food products from indigenous food crops. She obtained her BS in Agriculture from Egerton University, Kenya, and MS and PhD in Food Science from Purdue University.


Jennifer Burns

Jennifer Burns
Senior Technical Advisor, Nutrition, Catholic Relief Services, or CRS

Jennifer Burns recently joined Catholic Relief Services as a Senior Technical Advisor for Nutrition. Prior to joining CRS, Jennifer worked as a Senior Nutrition Advisor for International Medical Corps providing technical support to develop nutrition and food security programs globally. She has experience in program development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and in building staff capacity to use research methodologies and social and behavior change communications approaches. This includes building the capacity of field staff and local partners to train government counterparts, health workers, and community volunteers to use the Essential Nutrition Actions package, screen and monitor children’s growth, and implement community-based approaches to prevent and treat malnutrition. Jennifer was a public health volunteer with the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan. She holds a MPH in Human Nutrition from Johns Hopkins University. With a background in infant and young child feeding, Jennifer is pursuing credentials to become a lactation consultant.


Emma Caddy

Emma Caddy
Co-Founder, Tiny Totos

Emma Caddy is the Co-founder of Tiny Totos, where she is responsible for overall management, strategy, fundraising, and partnerships. Prior to Tiny Totos, Emma had built a 15-year career in community development and impact investment. For several years, she ran a global Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) fund, investing in ventures selling low carbon products and services to lower-income clients. As an independent consultant, Emma has advised the Kenya Bankers’ Association, Calvert Foundation, Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor, DOEN Foundation, and UNDP-UNEP’s SEED program on SME investing. She has also been an external evaluator for the World Bank Development Marketplace and Echoing Green entrepreneur SME competitions, a judge for the Intellecap-Sankalp India and Africa conferences, and founder of the Oxford SBS Skoll alumni group. Emma has a BA from Oxford, a MA in Environmental Management from UBC Canada, and a MBA with Distinction from Oxford, where she was a Skoll Scholar in Social Entrepreneurship.


Beth Collins

Beth Collins
Director, Impact Investment, Catholic Relief Services, or CRS

Beth Collins, Catholic Relief Services’ Director of Impact Investing, has a 30-year global executive leadership career with experience spanning corporate, non-profit and NGO sectors. Beth worked for over 15 years in the private sector, starting, growing, and leading new entertainment and media ventures as Senior Vice President at Talk Media and Vice President at Universal Pictures and Walt Disney Theatrical Productions. In 2003, Beth joined the Clinton Foundation as its first Rwanda country director. Upon returning to the U.S., Beth joined the Clinton Foundation management team leading new strategic initiatives, including the Clinton Global Initiative’s $100-million call to action for Haiti. She then served as a strategic advisor to a diverse range of public and private sector clients including Merck & Co., Qiagen, Paramount Pictures, Keep a Child Alive, HRH Prince Faisal of Jordan’s Generations for Peace, and the USC School of Film & Television. Beth holds a BA in International Studies from Miami University and a MBA in Finance from New York University.


Namukolo Covic

Namukolo Covic
Research Coordinator, Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division, International Food Policy Research Institute, or IFPRI

Dr. Namukolo Covic, as Research Coordinator with IFPRI in Addis Ababa for the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (4NH), supports efforts by the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) to promote evidence-based policy planning and implementation for nutrition. She coordinates the Transform Nutrition Consortium research efforts in East Africa, working closely with development partners and African Union structures on nutrition, and supports IFPRI’s Africa team on policy-related nutrition research. Dr. Covic worked as a senior lecturer at North-West University in South Africa. Her research focused on community-based micronutrient interventions related to cognitive function in children, infant and young child feeding, and broader food and nutrition security aspects of sustainable diets. As an expert in capacity and leadership development for nutrition, she has been a key member and faculty of the African Nutrition Leadership Programme (ANLP), and has led nutrition capacity strengthening activities in Zambia and Rwanda. Namukolo holds a BS in Agriculture/Adult Education, a MS in Nutrition/Nutritional Toxicology from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and a PhD in Nutrition from North-West University, South Africa.


Laura Dills

Laura Dills
Deputy Regional Director of Program Quality, East Africa Regional Office, Catholic Relief Services, or CRS

Laura Dills has served with Catholic Relief Services for more than 14 years, and is currently the Deputy Regional Director of Program Quality at the East Africa Regional Office. In her current role, Laura manages a 10-person technical team in WASH, Health, Nutrition, Microfinance, Agriculture, and Business Development that provides technical assistance to country programs and the projects they implement. She has also served in Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and India. For two years, Laura served in Haiti as the Deputy Country Representative for programs in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake. Most recently, she served more than three years as the CRS Country Representative in Madagascar. She was active in volunteer work, including two years teaching English in Benin as a Peace Corps volunteer and a court appointed special advocate for five years in Louisville, Kentucky. Laura received a MS in Development Management from the American University School of International Service and a MBA from Regis University.


Catherine Edward

Catherine Edward
Smallholder Farmer, Soya ni Pesa, Tanzania

Catherine Edward is a smallholder farmer based in Mikumi-Msimba Village in Morogoro, Tanzania. She has been farming since 2002, and in 2014 started production of soybeans after receiving training through the Soya ni Pesa project implemented by CRS Tanzania through a partnership in Morogoro. She has been producing soybeans as a cash crop and for household consumption for three years. She also produces and sells soybean milk through several markets. Catherine is the treasurer of the Sustainable Charcoal Project in her village, and member of KIUMBEM farmers group and IVISOMI association. She has training in soybean processing and use at the household level, good agricultural practices, effective use of natural resources through conservation, savings and lending, and entrepreneurship and leadership.


Shaun Ferris

Shaun Ferris
Director, Agricultural and Livelihoods, Catholic Relief Services, or CRS

Twitter Feed:
@shaunferris

Shaun Ferris is the Director of Agricultural Livelihoods at Catholic Relief Services, where he has served for ten years. In his current role, he is responsible for supporting smallholder farmers along the Pathway to Prosperity, as part of CRS’ Signature Program Area for Agriculture, to develop strategies that improve farmer families’ food, financial and nutritional security. Shaun focuses on developing marketing training materials, working with public and private sector agencies to develop new business models for inclusive market linkages, finding ways of generating value at the farm level through new combinations of skills acquisition, technology, market and opportunity identification, finding ways to improve information use and trading relationships, and building the agro-enterprise capacity of field staff. Prior to CRS, Shaun spent 16 years with the CGIAR. Shaun has also worked with several major agencies on short and longer-term projects, including USAID, World Bank, USDA, FAO, UNCTAD, DFID, IFAD and various country programs and projects. He obtained his BS in Horticultural Science from Reading University, a MS in Tropical Agriculture from Nottingham University, and a PhD in Plant Physiology from Cranfield University.


Dominic Godana

Dominic Godana
Country Representative, Kenya, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, or GAIN

Twitter Feed:
@ddgodana

Dominic Godana is GAIN’s Country Representative in Kenya, where he oversees strategy development, program management, operations, and country and regional staff. Before joining GAIN, he served with Food for the Hungry. Dominic is an expert in public health, nutrition, and food security matters with over 15 years of experience. He started as a community health promoter in the rural villages of Northern Kenya, mobilizing communities to provide primary health care services, later to become the Head of Program in the health and nutrition sectors, before taking his current role. Dominic has managed multi-sectoral programs and developed strategies and polices for health and nutrition projects. His experience encompasses child health and nutrition, nutrition in emergencies, food security, water and sanitation, and health systems strengthening. He has successfully implemented health and nutrition programs in the Northern part of Kenya, and has vast experience working in integrated programs aimed at bettering the nutrition and food security of communities. Dominic obtained a BS in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from Kenya Methodist University, and is currently studying for a Master in Public Health at Maseno University.


Mary Hennigan

Mary Hennigan
Senior Technical Advisor, Nutrition, Catholic Relief Services, or CRS

Mary Hennigan leads CRS’ efforts to deliver high-quality nutrition interventions that promote optimal child growth in her role as Senior Technical Advisor in Nutrition. Mary has more than 40 years of experience working in nutrition, and has lived in several countries, working on a range of nutrition programs including nutrition education, nutrition governance, surveillance systems, and training dietetic and nutrition staff. Most recently, she served as a preceptor for Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. Mary has co-authored a paper on field-testing lot quality assurance sampling for assessing the prevalence of acute malnutrition rates, and has contributed to numerous tools such as the CORE Group’s nutrition design tool. She serves on the board of directors of the CORE Group and is an active participant in their nutrition working group. Mary has a MPH from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine with a major in Nutrition.


Mildred Irungu

Mildred Irungu
Project Management Specialist, Agriculture and Nutrition, United States Agency for International Development, or USAID/Kenya

Mildred Irungu is the Project Management Specialist for USAID/Kenya, responsible for providing technical and strategic leadership at all levels, from policy analysis to program design under the USAID/Kenya Feed the Future Strategy to leverage farming and agriculture systems to improve nutrition outcomes. Mildred works with USAID’s partners in the public, private, and civil society sectors to compile experiences and tools on agricultural programming for nutrition outcomes, designing programs, supporting implementation of strategies, undertaking relevant policy analysis, and developing advocacy efforts to increase investments in agriculture that support nutritional gains and outcomes. She has over 25 years of field experience in food and nutrition security, community nutrition, HIV/AIDS and gender programs, including planning, implementation, technical oversight, and monitoring and evaluation. Mildred has a BS in Agriculture and Home Economics from Egerton University, a Post Graduate Diploma in Food and Nutrition Security from the International Agriculture Center in Wageningen, Netherlands, and a MS in Applied Human Nutrition from the University of Nairobi.


Carmen Jaquez

Carmen Jaquez
Practice Area Manager, Dairy, Livestock and Environment, Land O’Lakes

Carmen Jaquez is the Practice Area Manager, Dairy, Livestock and Environment, at Land O’Lakes’ International Development Division. She joined Land O’Lakes in 2007 as a Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellow. As a Fellow, Carmen assessed livestock development activities in the arid and semi-arid regions of the Horn of Africa. Currently, her work focuses on developing dairy and livestock market systems, understanding the drivers behind low adoption rates of improved technologies and techniques, integrated approaches to crosscutting issues (climate change, gender, and nutrition) and the relationship between smallholder livestock/dairy production, marketing, and household nutrition. Carmen has worked with Peace Corps in the US and Uganda, COVOL Uganda, as an independent consultant, and as a veterinary assistant at the University of Missouri Veterinary Teaching Hospital. She studied Fisheries and Wildlife Management and Biology at the University of Missouri and Applied Economics at the University of Vermont (USA).


Hope Kasimbazi

Hope Kasimbazi
Outreach and Partnership Officer, Early Steps Program, Private Sector Foundation Uganda, or PSFU

Ms. Hope Kasimbazi is the Outreach and Partnership Officer spearheading the Early Steps Program at the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU). PSFU is the apex body of the private sector, whose mandate is policy advocacy and research, capacity building for business development, and dialogue with government on their behalf. PSFU is a member-based organization constituted of 190 business and professional associations, regulators and academics, and partners with key stakeholders to promote nutrition and to ensure good health and full growth of children. Hope has worked with government, corporate bodies, and the UNDP. She coordinates the Annual National Health, Safety and Nutrition Fair with the Uganda Manufacturers’ Association, represents PSFU on the TradeMark East Africa’s (TMEA) Women in Business Program under the Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association, is a Board Member of the Network of African Business Women, a Graça Machel Trust Affiliate, and the Women in Business Club-SACCO. Hope is a businesswoman, mentor, and owner of hospitality boutiques. She holds a BS in International Business, diplomas in Law Communications in Business Management, and certificates in management and leadership.


Cecilie Kjeldsberg

Cecilie Kjeldsberg
Independent Consultant

Twitter Feed:
@cecci_kjel91

Cecilie Kjeldsberg is an Independent Consultant, currently assisting on a literature review on reproductive health with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine from which she recently graduated with a MS in Nutrition for Global Health. Cecilie’s specific interest in gender-nutrition linkages influenced her master’s thesis that focused on agriculture to nutrition pathways and women’s empowerment whilst working as an intern with Helen Keller International in Kathmandu, Nepal. After this conference, she is coordinating a global nutrition course at Tanga International Conference Centre, in cooperation with Bjorknes University College of Oslo, from which she obtained her BS in Nutritional Science.


Everlyn Matiri

Everlyn Matiri
Regional Technical Advisor, Nutrition, Catholic Relief Services, or CRS

Everlyn Matiri is a Regional Technical Advisor at Catholic Relief Services, where she provides nutrition technical support to programs in seven countries within East Africa. She has over ten years of experience in public health and clinical nutrition, with expertise in nutrition policy and strategy formulation, business development, research, and data analysis. She has designed, developed, field tested and scaled-up multisectoral and integrated nutrition models to maximize opportunities for nutrition and health services. Prior to joining CRS, Everlyn worked as Nutrition Advisor for PATH Kenya, where she led the nutrition component for the USAID-funded Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP). She also supported the formulation of the Kenyan nutrition policy and strategy, serving in several technical working groups with Kenya’s Ministry of Health (MOH) and Nutrition Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee. Everlyn worked as National Program Manager for the Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) Program with the MOH, as well as in various positions overseeing nutrition activities in Kenya. She holds a BS in Food, Nutrition and Dietetics, and a MPH.


Lydia Mbevi

Lydia Mbevi
Regional Gender and Youth Advisor, Africa, ACDI/VOCA

Twitter Feed:
@lmbevi

Lydia is the Regional Gender and Youth Advisor in Africa for ACDI-VOCA. She supports livelihoods and economic empowerment, value chain development, agribusiness, health and nutrition, and emergency response and food security programming in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Zambia, Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Lydia is responsible for mentoring and building the capacity of the program gender specialists, developing context specific resources and tools, supervising gender analysis and development of gender strategies, as well as ensuring that gender strategies supplement local government efforts. She is a board member at Women Empowerment Link and an executive mentor to youth at the Kenyatta Trust. Lydia has a Bachelor of Commerce from Daystar University and a MA in Gender and Development from the University of Nairobi.


Grainne Moloney

Grainne Moloney
Chief of Nutrition, United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF Kenya

Grainne Moloney joined UNICEF Kenya in July 2012 as Chief of the Nutrition Section, overseeing the program directly supporting the Nutrition Sector of the Ministry of Health. Prior to UNICEF Kenya, Grainne served as the Chief Technical Advisor of the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit with FAO in Somalia. The unit served as the main source of early warning for nutrition, food security, and livelihoods analysis in Somalia, which was responsible for the analysis that lead to the declaration of famine in 2011. Grainne has 18 years of experience in emergency nutrition surveillance and programming, food security assessment, and analysis and dietetics. She has worked mainly in Africa (directly in Kenya, Malawi, Sudan, Côte d'Ivoire, and Somalia, as well as technical oversight for Ethiopia, Uganda, Eritrea, Tanzania and Tajikistan, where she has served at both the country and regional levels as Program Manager and Technical Advisor. Grainne has also worked with ACF and Oxfam GB. An Irish national, Grainne holds a BS in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from Trinity College, Dublin, and a MS in Public Health Nutrition from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.


Mercy Mwende

Mercy Mwende
Director, Sweet and Dried Enterprises, Ltd.

Mercy Mwende is the Director of Sweet and Dried Enterprises, a Kenyan company adding value to locally available indigenous foods through fortification and processing. Sweet and Dried seeks to provide healthy, value added indigenous fortified foods using environmentally friendly processes, creating markets for smallholder farmers and decent jobs for rural youth and women. She is also a trainer with the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Women Entrepreneurship Development and Economic Empowerment (WEDEE) project in Kenya. Mercy is an enterprise champion, selected as first runner-up of the NETFUND Green Innovations Awards (GIA) in 2016, winner of the Processing Category award in the Enablis Business Plan Competition in 2013, and selected Most Outstanding Young Entrepreneur by ILO in 2011. She holds a diploma in Youth in Development Work, and is currently in the fourth year of her degree pursing Development Studies.


Yannick Ntirushwa

Yannick Ntirushwa
Senior Customer and Partnerships Manager, EarthEnable

Twitter Feed:
@yannick332

Yannick Ntirushwa is EarthEnable's Senior Customer and Partnerships Manager. He manages all customer relations and partnerships with the government, NGOs, and other companies for EarthEnable. EarthEnable improves child health by eliminating dirt floors, along with the parasites and bacteria that go with them. Prior to EarthEnable, Yannick worked at MTN, a leading emerging markets mobile operator, where he was involved in customer service, sales, and marketing. He has a BA from Canada's Carleton College where he studied Marketing.


Martha Nyagaya

Martha Nyagaya
Nutrition Manager, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, or CIFF

Martha Nyagaya is the Nutrition Manager at CIFF, covering Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Rwanda. Martha has over ten years of experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa in a range of food security, nutrition, health, and HIV programs. She has designed programs, managed grants, coordinated multi-sectoral large-scale nutrition projects, and overseen implementation of multi-country programs connecting various sectors. Prior to joining CIFF, Martha worked as the Regional Nutrition advisor for Irish Aid based in Tanzania and covering the East and Southern African regions. She also worked as a Regional Research Fellow for East and Central Africa with CIAT and Harvest Plus, where she coordinated efforts to reduce hidden hunger and provide micronutrients directly through biofortification of staple crops. Martha has worked with the CDC as a Nutrition Specialist, supporting incorporation of nutrition concerns into HIV research and ensuring that nutrition is a component of CDC supported HIV/AIDS programs. Martha holds a BS in Education and Home Economics, and a MS in Food, Nutrition, and Dietetics.


Bill O’Keefe

Bill O’Keefe
Vice President, Government Relations and Advocacy, Catholic Relief Services, or CRS

Twitter Feed:
@OKeefeCRS

Bill O’Keefe is Catholic Relief Services’ Vice President for Government Relations and Advocacy, based at CRS’ headquarters in Baltimore. He oversees efforts to change U.S. foreign policy in ways that promote justice and reduce poverty overseas. This involves lobbying Congress and the Administration on a range of foreign policy issues and educating U.S. Catholics about international issues, involving them in public campaigns for policy change. In his current role, he is also a board member of the US Global Leadership Campaign. Bill joined CRS in 1987 as a Project Manager in Tanzania, designing and monitoring community development projects. Since then, Bill has served in various capacities for CRS and was appointed to his current role in 2003. He obtained a BS from Yale University and a Master’s in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.


Marian Odenigbo

Marian Odenigbo
Special Adviser, International Fund for Agriculture Development, or IFAD

Marian Odenigbo is the Special Adviser on Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture in the East and Southern Africa Division (ESA) of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Marian is leading and managing nutrition mainstreaming in ESA programmes and projects. Through this role, she has collaborated with Rome-based UN food agencies (IFAD, FAO, WFP), government, NGOs, and academia and actively participated in UN Nutrition Working Groups at the country level. Her country experience includes Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. She was a clinical nutritionist in Nnamdi Azikiwe University teaching hospital, Nigeria, before proceeding to a lecturing career at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture in Nigeria. As a visiting scholar in McGill University, Canada, she led the management of the nutrition component in a multinational rice postharvest project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency on enhancing food security in Africa. In her PhD studies in Human Nutrition, Marian focused on community health nutrition, food consumption patterns, assessment of nutritional values and glycemic indices of traditional foods. She is a registered nutritionist.


George Owuor, Jr.

George Owuor, Jr.
Government Relations and Policy Lead, Equatorial Africa, Procter and Gamble, or P&G

George is an international trade lawyer with Procter and Gamble and leads the Government Relations and Policy Department for Equatorial Africa. His areas of focus include regulatory compliance, international trade rules, and policy development. Before joining P&G, he worked at TradeMark East Africa, a regional fund investing in enhancing trade facilitation in East Africa through infrastructure. In this capacity, George worked with the private sector in East Africa to enhance their competitiveness and export capability. Additionally, George has had vast experience in advising governments on trade policy in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Switzerland. George has a Bachelor’s of Law from Warwick University, UK and a Masters in Law and Economics from the University of Bern, Switzerland.


Serge Ranaivojaona

Serge Ranaivojaona
Managing Director, BushProof

Serge Rnaivojaona is the Managing Director at BushProof, where he has worked for seven years, including as Operations Manager and Deputy Director. BushProof is a social business with the mission to significantly contribute towards achieving universal and sustainable access to clean drinking water through innovative private sector solutions that positively impact the health and wellbeing of people living in low-income countries. Serge’s mandate is to provide strategic planning and goal setting, to develop and initiate new business models, and to manage day-to-day operations and finance. Serge is one of the pioneers in the development and practice of Public–Private Partnerships (PPP) in Madagascar. Before joining BushProof, he spent 14 years working for two international business groups active in the agricultural sector (MCFI Madagascar and SACOA Madagascar), as Operations, Logistics and Supply Manager. Serge graduated with a degree in Mathematics from the University of Antananarivo, and has a degree in Management from INSCAE (Institut National des Sciences Comptables et de l’Administration d’Entreprises).


Andrew Read

Andrew Read
Feed the Future Coordinator and Agriculture Team Lead, Office of Economic Growth, United States Agency for International Development, or USAID/Kenya

Andrew Read is the Feed the Future Coordinator for USAID/Kenya, where he leads a team to design strategies, prepare multi-year budgets, and implement and evaluate agribusiness development and trade programs. In this capacity, he works across the public and private sectors to gather and review economic and production data on agricultural commodities to develop policies and programs that promote a healthy agricultural economy. As an Agricultural Officer with USAID/Bangladesh he promoted procurement reforms through design and management of projects with local implementing partners and other partner USG agencies. During his time with the University of Missouri, Andrew developed, coordinated, and managed networks of producer groups and volunteer organizations and sought funding opportunities to support his portfolio of agricultural extension activities. Years of experience managing his own farm has given Andrew a unique perspective on challenges that farmers face. This perspective has been essential to his success managing a large portfolio of agricultural activities and promoting policies that benefit producers. Andrew has a BS in Horticulture from Southern Illinois University, and a MS in Agriculture from the University of Missouri.


Terrie Wefwafwa

Terrie Wefwafwa
CEO of Karibuni, Kenya and Chair of the International Baby Food Action Network, or IBFAN

Mrs. Terrie Wefwafwa has served as a civil servant for over 35 years as a public health nutritionist. She is CEO of Karibuni, a Kenyan NGO working with rural communities in western Kenya to improve nutrition and infant feeding practices. Terrie is also Chair of the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN). Formerly, she was the Head of the Nutrition Division of Kenya’s Ministry of Health. She was a member of the drafting team for the National Food Security and Nutrition Policy and championed passage of various food and nutrition legislations to advance nutrition, among them the Breast Milk Substitutes (Control and Regulation) Act. During her tenure, Kenya made substantial progress on nutrition, and it was declared the only country globally to be on track on all World Health Assembly Nutrition Indicators (Global Nutrition Report 2015). The Kenyan Government recognized Terrie’s leadership for nutrition improvement, and awarded her the Head of State Commendation (HSC). Terrie also received the Transform Nutrition Champion Global Award in 2013. She graduated from Kenyatta University with a Bachelor’s of Education and majored in Nutrition.