OUR TEAM
OUR TEAM
Cassandra Lee, Co-Founder & Executive Director
Edison Lee, Co-Founder & Managing Director
Dieudonné Ombeni, DRC Country Director
Benjamin Bahati, School Support Officer, Culture and Inclusion Lead
Benith Bazimaziki, Cashier
Jen Chai, Donor Relations Manager (US)
Bindu Faustin, School Support Officer, Child Protection Lead
Furaha Habimana, Compliance and Stakeholder Lead
Deborah Katungu, Finance Manager
Gloire Kombi, Logistics and IT Manager
Djimmy Mathe, Program Manager
Kieffer Mumbere, School Support Officer, Teacher Professional Development
Aline Mungumua, School Support Officer, Clubs Lead
Yousra Ouriche, Quality Schooling Specialist
Ee-Reh Owo, Chief Technical Officer
Anselme Sabuni, Data Collection Officer
Ben Savonen, Project Managment Officer (Seconded from GDI)
Jérémie Simpenzwe, Projects and Partnerships Lead
Racheal Vichei, Education Program Associate
Narine Vlotman, Education Program Manager
Interested in Joining Our Team?
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
April Tam Smith, Secretary
April Tam Smith is a devoted philanthropist, finance professional, and socially-conscious entrepreneur living in New York City. She is currently a Managing Director in a top tier investment bank’s equity derivatives team, covering hedgefunds. At age 30, April founded P.S. Kitchen, a social enterprise vegan restaurant in Times Square that donates 100% of its net profits to philanthropic endeavors, while providing gainful employment to those who need a second chance in the local community, including the formerly incarcerated, victims of domestic violence, and those struggling with homelessness. April was the recipient of the 2018 Columbia Tamer Center Social Enterprise Award, the 2018 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business Award, and the 2015 John Mack Leadership Award. She received her Bachelor's of Science in Engineering from MIT in 2005 and her MBA from Columbia Business School in 2009.
Jason Wendle
Jason is a Director at the Global Develpoment Incubator (GDI), working in the AgEnterprise portfolio and also spearheading GDI’s emerging anti-human trafficking efforts. At GDI, he most recently directed the launch of the Mastercard Foundation Rural and Agricultural Finance Learning Lab. As a senior advisor to the Lab, he supports a research agenda to advance the knowledge frontier in smallholder finance, and advises the directors of $175M worth of programs on how to measure impact and capture actionable learnings.
Jason helped design the Learning Lab for the Mastercard Foundation as an Associate Partner in the Nairobi office of Dalberg, where he spent 7 years providing strategy advice to clients across a broad range sectors . His clients have included the world’s largest private foundations, bilateral and multilateral donors, African governments, and Fortune 100 firms. He also provided leadership to Dalberg’s evaluation work on the continent. Jason holds an MPA/ID from Harvard’s Kennedy School, and has published and presented work on smallholder finance, SME banking, and impact measurement. Jason lives with his wife Krista and their three kids in the DC area.
Deborah Taylor
Deborah Taylor brings more than 20 years of higher education leadership experience in academic affairs, preceded by a 12-year career as a K-12 private school administrator. Upon joining the Biola University faculty, in addition to teaching, Deborah led the teacher education program in curriculum development and outcomes-based assessment from 2001-2010. From 2010-15, Deborah joined the Provost Office team, where she established systems of accountability for student learning across the university and led the university’s accreditation processes.
From 2015-22, Deborah served as Provost and Senior Vice President of Biola University, providing supervisory and mentoring support to the academic deans of the nine schools of the university, as well as providing leadership to academic areas such as: Student Success, Library, Registrar’s Office, Faculty Development, Educational Effectiveness, Core Curriculum, and Diversity and Inclusion.
Deborah earned her Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University with an emphasis in diversity, assessment, and research, focusing her doctoral dissertation on teaching practices in postsecondary education that foster a positive environment for first generation students and students of color.
Nathalie Kalombo
Nathalie Kalombo is a current litigation attorney who represents clients who are survivors of physical and sexual violence in a family context. She also works as an international human rights law consultant, including for an international nonprofit focused on advocacy in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). While pursuing her LLM at Emory University School of Law, she specialized in transitional justice because of her passion for implementing transitional justice in DRC, where she was born. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Arts in Government and a Bachelor of Science in Corporate Communication, she worked in politics, helping to organize state and presidential campaigns while living in Washington, D.C., Florida, and Austin, Texas. She is passionate about justice for the oppressed and marginalized.
Edison Lee, Interim Treasurer
Edison Lee is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Justice Rising. He previously worked at FBR & Co., a leading middle-market investment bank, advising clients on strategic alternatives and equity / debt capital raises. After graduating from the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California in 2009, Edison moved to Zimbabwe as a missionary and development aid worker. He later moved to Rwanda and worked as a Business Analyst with Karisimbi Business Partners, a strategy consulting firm focused on developing management capacity for high impact businesses in East Africa. He currently resides in New York, NY with his wife, Cassandra Lee.
Angelin Baskaran
Angelin is currently a Managing Director and the Head of U.S. Commodity Sales at Morgan Stanley, where she has worked since 2008. Prior to commodities, her career spanned investing in affordable housing, renewable energy and structured tax investments. Angelin has B.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering and Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. She enjoys traveling and being active with her husband, daughter and son. She is a strong believer in the power of education to bring social mobility to families, and cares deeply about promoting education across the world, particularly for girls and women.
Richard Lee
Richard Lee has spent more than two decades at the intersection of faith, leadership, and justice. He currently serves as Chief Generosity & Impact Officer at Generous Life, connecting generous people to community and transformative impact.
Richard spent over a decade at International Justice Mission as an Advancement leader and trainer, equipping staff and survivors across more than 20 countries. His TEDx talk, "Slavery Still Exists. Here's How to End It," has reached more than 45,000 viewers on TED.com. He also brings 20 years of pastoral experience, currently serves as Teaching Pastor at Highrock Church in Boston, and has spoken in more than 175 churches across the globe.
Richard is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Khora Collective, a spacious place for Asian Americans exploring leadership development, spiritual formation, and racial identity. He serves on the boards of Justice Rising, Frontier Fellowship, and One Day's Wages (Advisory).
He holds a degree in Mathematics from Columbia College in New York City and a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Richard lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children.