MARY MARTIN NIEPOLD | PRESIDENT/CHAIRMAN, is the founder of The Nyanya Project. During a visit to Kenya in 2006, Niepold became aware of the vast number of African grandmothers caring for grandchildren orphaned by HIV/AIDS and discovered that there was no source of help for these women. She founded The Nyanya Project with her own funds and contributions from friends, and returned to Kenya in May, 2007, to initiate programs. Projects to aid grandmothers responsible for AIDS orphans were established in Kenya and Tanzania.
Niepold has been a freelance writer, editor, coach and consultant for 30 years. She was a feature writer and editor for The Philadelphia Inquirer for 14 years, Executive Editor of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and has assisted in the editing and writing of several books, including Dr. Mitchell Gaynor’s Nurture Nature/ Nurture Health: Your Health and the Environment and Jan Fontein’s The Art of Southeast Asia: The Collection of the Museum Rietberg. She is currently a Lecturer in Journalism at Wake Forest University. She is the mother of two and grandmother of five.
MIL NIEPOLD | VICE PRESIDENT is currently Senior Program Consultant to Verité, a leading labor rights NGO. Her work is focused on programs to help eliminate the worst forms of child labor in the cocoa sector of West Africa. Prior to this, Niepold was Strategic Advisor to Ambassador Swanee Hunt. As a consultant, she has worked across the public and private sectors with corporations, NGOs and academia. Clients included, the European Commission, Oxfam America, Reebok, Calvert Social Investments, UNIFEM and World Monitors, Inc.
Niepold holds a degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University and L’Institut des Sciences Politiques in Aix-en-Provence. In 1998 she completed an intensive International Human Rights Law program at Oxford University, United Kingdom. Niepold has served on Amnesty International USA’s Business and Economic Relations Group since 1998. She has been interviewed for NPR, NBC (Dateline), CNN and The Los Angeles Times, among others, and is the author of a children’s book, OOOH! Matisse. She is the daughter of founder, Mary Martin Niepold.
CONNIE SLATE KIRKMAN | SECRETARY is a graduate of Greensboro College in North Carolina where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Philosophy, ‘71. She earned her Masters of Education in Child Development from the University of North Carolina Greensboro where she was awarded a Graduate Assistantship at the Brent Woodson Carter Child Care Center. Connie has spent her career alternating between teaching and office administration. Connie first worked at Centenary United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem as lead Kindergarten teacher in their Child Care Center as well as the Administrator of Younger Children’s Ministry for the Church. She was lead teacher of the Nursery Class at St. Luke’s Episcopal School in New York City, and alternated office work at the National Council of Churches, office of Ecumenism, as well as The National Episcopal Church Center in their Lay Ministry Department and Council for the Development of Ministry. She taught English Language and American Culture for one year to high school students at the Madách Imre Gimnázium for the Arts in Budapest, Hungary. Currently, she is Executive Assistant to the President and CEO of Flow Companies, Inc., in Winston-Salem, N.C. Additionally, she facilitates language development of Hispanic kindergarten-age children in an evening program. Having always had a heart for the African Continent, Connie is pleased to be able to bring her administrative skills to The Nyanya Project and serves as Secretary.
DR. SYLVAIN BOKO | TREASURER is an economist who specializes in economic development, with particular emphasis on Africa. He is presently the Zachary T. Smith Associate Professor of Economics at Wake Forest University. Dr. Boko has led numerous discussions on economic development in Africa at institutions of higher education, including. Harvard, Yale, and Miami University. He is President of the African Finance and Economic Association. Dr. Boko is an editor of NEPAD and the Future of Economic Policy in Africa and Women in African Development: The Challenge of Globalization and Liberalization in the 21st Century.
SAMUEL G. GICHERE, is Chief Economist, Planning Ministry for Environment and Natural Resources, Kenya. He met Mary Martin Niepold in Kisumu, Kenya in May 2007 and became interested in aiding Kenyan grandmothers through The Nyanya Project. Mr. Gichere is a Partner in the Rainwater Partnership and was a member of the UN’s Finance for Sustainable Development Policy Team, in 1999. He is co-author of: Climate Variability And Water Resources Degradation in Kenya: Improving Water Resources Development And Management (World Bank Working Papers.)
DR. MARGARET JESANG HUTCHINSON, a Horticulturalist and Gender Activist, is the Executive Director of the Education Centre for Women in Democracy in Nairobi, Kenya and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Nairobi. She is a Board Member, Poverty Eradication Network. She was educated through the Master’s level in Kenya and completed a Ph.D at the University of Guelph, Canada where she earned The Canadian International Development Agency Scholarship (1991-1996).
Dr. Hutchinson networks with 19 women’s organizations in Kenya to provide leadership for the women’s movement not only in Kenya, but also internationally. She participated in the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, New York, USA in 2005 and 2006. She also coordinates program activities and advocacy for WOMEN DIRECT Network, a network of like-minded organizations operating in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya whose mission is to raise the collective voice of women nationally, regionally and internationally. Dr. Hutchinson has published extensively in professional journals.
BEVERLY JOHNSTON is a local philanthropist and community activist in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 2006, she founded the Blessings Project Foundation and serves as its Board President. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Illinois and her Masters in Social Work from Columbia University. Previously, Ms. Johnston served as director of Client and Volunteer Services for Crisis Control Ministry in Winston-Salem and as case manager at Burke Rehab and New York Hospital.
LANCE PIERCE is Climate Program Director at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Pierce previously worked at Harvard Business School as Project Director in the launch of the Advanced Leadership Initiative, an interdisciplinary collaborative of Harvard’s graduate professional schools focused on developing case-based knowledge about cross-sectoral solutions to pressing global issues. Pierce has worked in the private, public, and non-profit sectors with much of his professional background focusing on sustainable development and corporate social responsibility (CSR). In CSR he has worked with AFP, the world’s third largest news agency, the World Bank, and served as Director, Corporate Issues Management for Fortune 20 food and consumer goods holding company, Altria Group.
As a corporate consultant prior, he worked with some of the world’s leading companies in investment banking, real estate, media, and US Government agencies. Pierce began his career in sustainable development, having been principal of a consultancy working with United Nations agencies and leading development NGOs, and serving in the Peace Corps in the Philippines. Pierce currently sits on the board of Ceres, a national network of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups working with companies and investors to integrate sustainability into capital markets. His credits include United Nations publications and reports, and co-authorship of Harvard Business School cases with leading HBS faculty on corporate sustainability and leadership transition, as well as documentary producing credits on US Public Television. He holds degrees from the University of Kentucky, New York University, and Harvard University.
FREDERICK SUMAYE is the former Prime Minister of Tanzania. He was Prime Minister from the first multi-party elections in November, 1995 until December, 2005. After leaving office, he completed a year as a mid-career student in the Edward S. Mason Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 1972, Prime Minister Sumaye obtained a Diploma in Agricultural Engineering from Egerton College in Kenya. He has served as Head of the Rural Energy Department (CARMATEC -Arusha); was a Member of Parliament for Hanang Constituency from 1987 – 1994; and served from 1994 – 1995 as Minister for Agriculture. He and Mary Martin Niepold met in Dar Es Salaam in June, 2007. Based on his many years in government, Prime Minister Sumaye is dedicated to alleviating the suffering caused by HIV/AIDS in Africa.
VIRGINIA WEILER is a professional photographer whose photographs have helped regional non-profit organizations communicate their mission and raise awareness about their vision and the community’s needs. She is the principle photographer for two books: Piedmont Land Conservancy’s Forever These Lands and the historic village of Old Salem’s The Gardens of Salem. In her extensive work for 17 years with the Piedmont Land Conservancy she served on the board of directors and documented the conservation sites and the people committed to protecting the region’s natural heritage for future generations. Her photographs appear in national publications on gardening and horticulture. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in French Language and Literature.
EDWIN G. WILSON is Provost Emeritus at Wake Forest University. He has a doctorate in English from Harvard University and has held the positions at Wake Forest of assistant dean of the undergraduate College, acting dean of the College, dean of the College, provost (the university’s first), vice president for special projects and senior vice president. As an administrator, he is likely best known as provost, a position he held from 1967 until 1990. Dr. Wilson co-wrote Wake Forest University (NC) (College History Series). He received Wake Forest’s Medallion of Merit in 2004. He is very active in the community and has been closely associated with the Piedmont Opera Theatre, the Winston-Salem Arts Council, the North Carolina Arts Council and Reynolda House Museum of American Art. He has also served on the Board of Trustees at Winston-Salem State University.