Archives: Team

Abdulrahman Alzuebi is a Corporate and Foundation Partnerships team manager at BRAC USA. He oversees a portfolio of partnerships with leading Global Foundations, contributing to partnership building, proposal development, and increasing BRAC’s ties and visibility across different geographies and thematic priorities such as education, humanitarian response, and microfinance programs.

Previously, he managed public health and education programs for Dubai Cares across 12+ countries, and worked in the energy sector with Kuwait Oil Company prior to the international development career.

Abdulrahman holds an MBA in Social Enterprise from Hult International Business School and a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Kuwait University. He is fluent in Arabic and English, with basic proficiency in Spanish.

Mica brings more than 25 years of communications and fundraising experience to BRAC USA. Mica’s career launched in a BusinessWeek newsroom in Manhattan as the magazine launched its online presence in the late 1990s. She was a Senior Writer/Assistant Editor at the London Business School from 2005-2008, diving into alumni communications, speech writing, and internal communications.

After moving back to the U.S. in 2008, she consulted for a range of organizations before joining Humanity & Inclusion (then ‘handicap international’) as their U.S. Director of Marketing and Communications. In 2018, she was part of the global working group that rebranded the organization – from name and logo to colors and layouts – to humanity & inclusion. She became the U.S. Director of Communications and Development in 2020, building out the team’s digital fundraising and planned giving capabilities.

Melyssa Muro is the Gift Processor/Database Administrator for the Individual Giving team, assisting with donation processing as well as donor data hygiene solutions. She ensures all donor and gift information is stored accurately to aid in fundraising efforts aimed at expanding BRAC’s programs.

While a student of Columbia University, Melyssa interned with The Moth, Doctors Without Borders, and The Prospect Hill Foundation. She then worked for a global financial institution where she learned data and account management. This combination of nonprofit experience and data management led her to serve as Program Coordinator for the small nonprofit Path Forward, where she assisted with database administration, program implementation and coordination, as well as fundraising efforts.

As the Director of Development at BRAC USA, Catherine oversees the fundraising strategy and donor relations for individual, major donor, and family foundation giving. Catherine has twenty years’ experience in development, strategic planning, and communications for international and U.S.-based youth development, human rights, and social justice organizations.

She has served in recent fundraising leadership roles at NAF, Learning Leaders, and Equality Now. Catherine holds an M.A. in Modern European History from Columbia University and a B.A. in English from the University of Vermont.

Joel Lamstein is founder and president of John Snow Inc. (JSI), an international public health consulting firm. Founded in 1978, JSI now has more than 2,000 people stationed in the United States and throughout the world working to enhance the lives of underserved and vulnerable populations. He is also president of World Education, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of the poor through education, economic and social development programs. JSI/World Education has been selected as one of the 100 best places to work in Massachusetts.

Mr. Lamstein is a lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health. And a visiting professor at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.He is a frequent lecturer on organizational strategy, nonprofit management, international development and strategic management.

Mr. Lamstein serves on the boards of advisors at Boston University Public Health School, and the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He is also on the board of Seed Global Health and the Center for Health Equity at Dartmouth College.

Mr. Lamstein also co-founded Management Sciences for Health (MSH) in 1973. He has been advisor to numerous public health programs throughout the world in issues of public health management. He received his BS in math and physics from the University of Michigan, and attended the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Faria is a Senior Associate on the Corporate and Foundation Partnerships team at BRAC USA. She supports the team with the prospect research process, proposal development with a focus on BRAC’s global early childhood development and education portfolios, and grant reporting.

Prior to joining BRAC, she worked in the local New York City government as an investigator looking into cases of police misconduct at the Civilian Complaint Review Board. Faria holds a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from the City College of New York and master’s degree in International Affairs with a concentration on human rights from Columbia University.

Michael Louis is a finance and strategy executive with over 15 years of experience working with leading consumer brands to drive growth and transformation. He currently serves as the Global Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions Strategy at BIC, a leading global consumer brand. Prior to BIC, Michael led M&A strategy and execution, financial planning & analysis at Tegra Global, an Apollo Global-backed apparel manufacturing business. He previously spent over 10 years in private equity and investment banking. In addition to his finance and strategy experience, he has also worked in various capacities with several nonprofits and global health organizations, including Partners In Health and the Global Nursing Caucus. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Cornell University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Michael is based in Atlanta, GA, where he resides with his wife and two daughters.

Debbie brings more than 20 years of finance experience in the non-profit sector.

Sarah F. Cliffe is currently the director of New York University’s Center on International Cooperation. Prior to that, she was the Special Representative for the World Bank’s World Development Report on Conflict, Security and Development, and the Special Adviser and Assistant Secretary-General of Civilian Capacities to the United Nations.

Ms. Cliffe has worked for the last twenty years in countries emerging from conflict and political transition, including Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea Bissau, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda, South Sudan, South Africa, Somalia, and Timor-Leste. At the World Bank, her work has covered post-conflict reconstruction, community-driven development, and civil service reform. Ms. Cliffe was the chief of mission for the Bank’s program in Timor-Leste from 1999 to 2002; led the Bank’s Fragile and Conflict-Affected Countries Group from 2002-2007 and was the Director of Strategy and Operations for the East Asia and Pacific Region from 2007-2009.

Ms. Cliffe has also worked for the United Nations Development Programme in Rwanda, the Government of South Africa, and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, as well as for a major management consultancy company in the United Kingdom on public sector reform issues.

Ms. Cliffe has a Bachelor’s degree in history from Cambridge’s University and a Master’s degree in international relations and international economic policy from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Dirk Booy has over 40 years of international development experience having worked at the village/community level, ran a National Field Office, managed a large fundraising office in Canada, and provided global leadership across 96 countries. He has held senior positions in large INGOs, both Western and Southern led, and helped mentor and develop over 100 leaders in the sector. Most recently, Booy served as the Senior Director for Program Development, Resource Mobilization and Learning (PRL) in BRAC helping to establish the PRL unit across the organization.

Currently, Booy is a Consultant/Mentor/Advisor to INGOs helping to build organizational capacity to improve overall impact. His unique focus is on facilitating meaningful change in complex, multicultural organizations. Booy has a Bachelors in Social Economics from Calvin (College) University, and a Masters in International Rural Development Planning from University of Guelph. He resides in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.