Josh Ruxin
Chairman of the Board, President and Co-Founder
Josh is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Public Health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and the founder and director of the Access Project, the Millennium Villages Project in Rwanda, and Access' Neglected Tropical Disease Control Program. Josh has extensive experience operating at the intersection of public health, business and international development. In 1991, Josh co-founded and served as vice president of ontheFRONTIER, a strategy consulting firm. During his five years there and at the Monitor Group, he led projects in a dozen developing countries and was an advisor to government and private sector leaders on business strategy and economic development.
Josh is a frequent contributor to such national publications as The New York Times and Huffington Post and has been featured in numerous other publications, including the Washington Post, Forbes, Time, Seed magazine, CNN and CNN International's Inside Africa. He serves on the board of Orphans of Rwanda, Inc. and FilmAid International. He is a member of the Global HIV Prevention Working Group and serves on faculty at the Clergy Leadership Project.
Josh holds a B.A. in History of Science and Medicine from Yale University, where he was a Truman Scholar. He received a Masters of Public Health from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in History from the University of London, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He is currently based in Kigali, Rwanda, where he lives with his wife and daughter.
David Lowenfeld
Vice Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder
David is the Executive Vice President of World Wide Holdings, a real estate development firm based in New York City. During the past decade, World Wide has developed over two million square feet of luxury residential housing in Manhattan. Previously, David served in the U.S. State Department as Special Advisor to the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs and was Executive Director of the Industrial Development Agency of New York City.
David holds a B.A. from Brandeis University and a doctorate in public policy from Harvard University. Along with his wife Sally Mendelsohn, certified Nurse Midwife, David has traveled to Rwanda many times to provide advice, assistance and training in the areas of health care and economic development.
Bruce Rabb
Board Secretary
Bruce is an attorney whose practice has primarily involved advising and assisting businesses and entrepreneurs. He has focused on matters such as developing and structuring new ventures, obtaining financing, raising capital through private placements and public offerings, complying with securities laws, carrying out acquisitions and joint ventures, establishing and maintaining governance mechanisms and dealing with governmental regulatory issues. He also has a long track record of advising not-for-profit organizations on organizational, governance and operational matters, and is active in the entertainment industry both as a lawyer and an advisor. He has served on the Boards of many for profit and not-for-profit organizations. His public service includes serving as White House Staff Assistant to President Richard Nixon. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Bar Association, the American Law Institute and the New York City Bar Association where he has sat on numerous committees including the Committee on International Law, which he chaired.
Bruce holds a B.A. from Harvard University and an LL.B. from Columbia Law School.
Charlyn Belluzzo
Board Member
Charlyn is a doctor of public health and tropical medicine and has extensive experience in the management of global health and international non-profit organizations, particularly in the developing world. Charlyn is a faculty member of the Medical Knowledge Institute (MKI), based in the Netherlands. MKI provides programs that promote healthcare – specifically cancer and HIV/AIDS care – as a human right in the developing world. Charlyn is an author, frequent speaker and panelist at international forums and conferences. She is a Gladstone Institute Scientific Advisor, Special Advisor to HopeLab Foundation, Board Director of FilmAid International and an advisor to the UC Center for Global Health Advisory. Charlyn is also a member of the United Nations Business Council, American College of Healthcare Executives, Association of Clinical Research Professionals, Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives, and American College of Nutrition. Charlyn earned graduate degrees and received post-graduate training from LaSalle University, the University of Colorado School of Business, Georgetown University School of Medicine, and Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
Charlyn has traveled to Rwanda numerous times on her own and with her family.
W. Dabbs Cavin
Board Member
Dabbs has nearly 20 years of both national and international banking experience. From 2006-2007, Dabbs was Chief Executive Officer of Opportunity International Bank Rwanda (OIBR). In this capacity, Dabbs launched Opportunity International’s microfinance programs in Rwanda and led the efforts to merge World Relief and Hope International’s microfinance program in Rwanda with OIBR, creating the Urwego Opportunity Bank. The combined entity represents the first partnership between these three global faith-based organizations, and currently has approximately 30,000 loan clients, 4,000 savings clients, and over 150 employees. Dabbs received his B.S.B.A. in Finance and Banking from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and his Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law, where he served as a member of the law review.
Dabbs has been actively involved in projects in Rwanda since 2001 and is also a board member on the Mustard Seed Project, Kigali International Community School and Bridge2Rwanda.
Ernest Rwamucyo
Board Member
Ernest has a wealth of experience in economic development in both the public and private sectors. He is currently the Policy Advisor on the Millennium Development Goals at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in New York. Prior to joining UNDP, Ernest worked for the Government of Rwanda as Director General for Economic Development Planning in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. He also worked as the Director of Strategic Planning and Poverty Reduction Monitoring in the Ministry. He has served as chair and member of the board of directors for several public and private enterprises and was a researcher and assistant lecturer at the National University of Rwanda.
Ernest holds a B.A. in Public Administration from the National University of Rwanda and a master’s degree in Development Policy and Planning from Cornell University.
Janet Tobias
Board Member
Janet is a co-founder and partner at Ikana Media where she leads up the strategy and creative groups. Over the last five years she has worked with a variety of clients in the healthcare space on subjects ranging from broad-based delivery of healthcare information to communications efforts around obesity and HIV/AIDS. Besides her work in digital and health care strategy and content, Janet is an Emmy award-winning director/producer with 20 years experience working for all three American networks, PBS, Discovery, and MSNBC. She runs the production company Sierra/Tango which, over the last eight years, has produced over 15 films on a variety of social issues.
In addition to her National Emmy, Janet has won two American Bar Association awards, two Cine Golden Eagles, two Casey medals for meritorious journalism, a National Headliner Award, a Sigma Delta Chi Award and received an honorable mention for the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism and Overseas Press Award. Janet also serves on the Board of Directors of Healthright International, Mindset Media Society and SochiReporter.
Kari Stoever
Board member
Kari Stoever is the President and Founder of Meliora Global, LLC, a newly established firm focused on growth strategies both for profit and not for profit social ventures. She is a global health and development expert with more than 15 years of experience leading all aspects of nonprofit and research initiatives. In her previous role at the Sabin Vaccine Institute, she helped establish and was the Managing Director of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD). She was the Principal Investigator on a $34 million grant by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to establish regional financing mechanisms and to increase international investments for the scale-up of NTD control and elimination strategies globally. Under her leadership, the Global Network secured more than US $100 million in grants and financial commitments. She has been active in the Clinton Global Initiative since its inception and has made key contacts with policy makers and opinion leaders in the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Africa. Prior to her work at Sabin, she spent several years managing clinical research studies in cancer and infectious diseases. She spent a year working for the Department of Defense at the United States Army Medical Research Institute for infectious diseases (USAMRIID) managing anthrax and other biodefense studies.
She has served on the Women’s Leadership Initiative at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and is a current board member of Rwanda Works. She holds a B.Sc. from George Washington University, a degree in nursing, and an Executive Masters in Leadership from the McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University. In 2009 she participated in Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit.
Charlie Conklin
Board member
Charlie is the Executive Director of The Nehemiah Network, a network of marketplace leaders and churches serving the needs of local communities headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. He serves on the board of several non-profits including the Chair of Arkansas 4 H Foundation, Chair of Arkansas State Committee of Cooperatives, and board of STEP Ministries, a mentoring and leadership development ministry for inner city youth and families. Charlie has served as a leader in the banking industry for 34 years including President and CEO of AgHeritage Farm Credit Services, an agricultural cooperative financial institution in the United States GSE Farm Credit System as well as president and EVP of community and regional banks in the southeastern United States. He has served on both the faculty and Board of Trustees of the American Banker’s Associations Stonier Graduate School of Banking at the University of Delaware. He continues to consult with non-profits and financial institutions.
Charlie earned his B.A. from Davidson College and his M.B.A from Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University. He has published banking articles in various banking journals and Harvard Business Library. Charlie has traveled to Rwanda to observe various banking, agricultural and leadership projects.