Board chair: An enthusiastic supporter of AP's quilt program, Barbara (Bobbi) is a retired educator who has taught at all levels of education from preschool through graduate school. She has a BA in history from Old Dominion University and an MSED and Ed.D. from the University of Southern California. As a curriculum specialist, she developed training programs for USC in Germany, for the US Navy in Newfoundland, Canada, and a graduate program for the Overseas Federation of Teachers for teachers in the DoD Dependents Schools on three continents. In the US, she has been an associate professor at Lasell College (Newton, MA) and Morris College (Sumter, SC). She was also Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment for the North Kingstown, RI school district. As an educational consultant, she worked with a team to improve the national education programs of Pakistan, Egypt, and the UAE. Now retired, Bobbi is an outside evaluator of dissertations and education papers for Pakistan universities and education journals. She is also a docent and children’s program educator at the Cameron Museum of Art in Wilmington, NC. She is an award-winning quilter who has conducted workshops and made presentations about quilting to schools, libraries, educational conferences, and guilds. Since 2010, she has made quilts for the Advocacy Project from Kosovo, Uganda, Palestine, Nepal(3), and Syria.

Board Vice-chair: Karen, a Brazilian national, served as Executive Director at AP between 2018 and 2019, before stepping down to join the AP Board and move back to the UK. Karen graduated from The University of California, Santa Barbara with a BA degree – Major in Global Studies and Minor in History. Her work with The Advocacy Project started in 2015 when she interned as a Development Assistant. As Executive Director of AP Karen's responsibilities covered administration, fundraising, partnerships, human resources and fellowship program. Karen now lives in the UK where she works in the Private Sector.  Email: kdelaney@advocacynet.org

Stella Makena is the Co-founder and Program Coordinator of Shield of Faith (SOF), an AP partner that seeks to empower vulnerable women in Kenya’s informal settlements. Stella has worked in the public and private sectors for over 25 years, including stints as an IT specialist at the National Cereals and Produce Board in Kenya, a Data Stringer at Thomson Reuters, and a humanitarian worker at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Kenya, Rwanda, Eritrea, and Somalia. Stella has played a decisive role in building a strong partnership between SOF and AP that began in 2019 with embroidery training and continues through Shield of Faith's trail-blazing project to compost food waste and grow organic food in the Nairobi settlements. She hopes to use her place on the AP Board to present the perspective of AP's partners in the South and make the case for new innovative community-based initiatives. Stella holds a diploma in IT systems analysis & design and a BSC degree in International Business Administration from the United States International University(USIU)-Africa.

Scott is a private investor and consultant, active in US politics, national security issues and with several non-profit organizations. He is the former US Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a Senate confirmed appointment, during the second term of President Obama. For 23 years, he worked in international capital markets at several investment banks in NY, Tokyo and London, leaving his last position as a Managing Director in Credit & Rates at JP Morgan in London in 2004. Prior to his banking career, he spent six years as a merchant seaman. He earned an undergraduate degree from Sophia University in Tokyo in 1978 and a MS in International Business from Georgetown in 1982.

Tom Carver is the CEO of AfricaWorks, a social enterprise developing a platform for African expertise as a key resource for the development community. Having lived in Africa for three years as the BBC’s correspondent, he has maintained contact with the continent as a consultant to international institutions and major corporations. Tom is a former British Army officer who became one of the BBC’s top foreign reporters, working as the BBC correspondent in Africa, Balkans, London, Russia and Washington. After leaving the BBC, he ran the Washington office of Control Risks, where he advised on reputational, political and operational risk in emerging markets. He built the first ever human rights compliance program for the International Finance Corporation (IFC). He was hired by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to overhaul their engagement with stakeholders. During his time, he helped to win numerous awards for the organization, including top North American Think Tank, and Think Tank Publication of the Year. Carnegie’s external relations team was ranked #1 out of 6,500 think tanks worldwide. He has also been a senior vice president at Chlopak, Leonard & Schechter, one of Washington’s leading strategic communications consultancies. Tom is a former board member of VSO, the UK’s Peace Corps. He has a BA Honors in Modern History, and attended the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

Larry Ingeneri earned a Bachelor’s degree from the US Naval Academy and served on submarines from 1982-1986 before earning an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Between 1988 and 1985, Larry was a Vice President for Corporate Finance at the Salomon Brothers Bank in New York. He then joined the senior management team which restructured Ascom Timeplex. Between 1996 and 2002, Larry served as Chief Financial Officer at the COLT Telecom Group in London, with operations in 13 countries and revenue of $1.5 billion. Between 2003 and 2015 he served as Chief Financial Officer at MindSHIFT Technologies, an IT service provider based in Waltham, Massachusetts. The company was sold to Ricoh Americas Holding Inc in 2014.

  Joe Eldridge served as University Chaplain at American University for almost 20 years until his retirement in 2017 and continues as adjunct lecturer in the School of International Service.  While at AU he created the Alternative Break program in Campus Life and helped to establish the Social Enterprise Certificate in SIS. Before joining the American University staff, he served as the founding director of the Washington Office of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now Human Rights First).  During the mid-1980s he worked for three years in Honduras consulting on human rights and development issues.  In 1974 Eldridge co-founded the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), an organization dedicated to promoting human rights and social justice in the Americas and served as its director for 12 years.  Prior to that he lived for three years in Chile working for an agency of the United Methodist Church doing community development in a marginalized barrio in Santiago. Eldridge has a MA in International Relations from American University, a MDiv from Perkins School of Theology at SMU, and a DMin from Wesley Theological Seminary.  He serves on several boards including the Center for International Policy (CIP), the Advocacy Project and is a Trustee of Santiago College in Chile. Eldridge is married to Maria Otero. They have three children and a granddaughter.   

Julia is an international development and humanitarian assistance professional with special interest in championing community-based organizations. She was previously a Humanitarian Assistance Officer at USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance where she supported emergency response efforts for natural disasters and complex crises in Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, and Yemen. Julia blends her approach to development through previous experiences working in public relations and issue advocacy campaigns. As a public relations consultant, she led communication campaign efforts to extend Temporary Protected Status for refugees in the U.S. and elevate the profile of public municipal sanitation workers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She holds an MA in International Affairs and International Development from the George Washington University and was a Peace Fellow for the Advocacy Project during the summer of 2022. In her spare time Julia likes to garden, embroider, play video games with her husband, Jack, and spend time with their circus (3 cats and 1 giant dog).

Iain has an extensive background working with civil society in countries in conflict. He was a Geneva-based correspondent for the London-based Guardian and International Herald Tribune (1976-1987); authored a book on the disappearances in Argentina; fronted several BBC documentaries; served as spokesperson for the UNHCR operation in Cambodia (1992) and the UN humanitarian operation in Haiti (2004); served as a Senior Fellow at the US Institute of Peace (1996-7); and conducted missions to Rwanda and Bosnia for the UN, USAID and UNHCR. He stepped down in 2019 as an adjunct professor at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, where he taught human rights. Email: iain@advocacynet.org

A native of Arkansas, Mary Ellen graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis with a bachelor’s degree in music and from The Catholic University in DC with a master’s degree in vocal performance. She has done administrative work at several local churches and has also been the alto section leader and soloist at the National Presbyterian Church and Washington Hebrew Congregation for many years. In September 2019, she began working at The Advocacy Project as a part-time financial manager. She lives in Silver Spring, MD and, when not working or singing, enjoys visiting with friends and with her four grown children and grandson who all live in the metro area.

Bobbi has lived and worked in many countries.  She spent most of her professional life in education as a teacher, professor, administrator, and international consultant.  She established a graduate program for federal teachers in Europe and was a founding member of a women’s crisis center in Germany.  She is also an award-winning quilter and fiber arts teacher, having taught quilting and embroidery in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.  She has completed over a dozen quilts for the Advocacy Project and has curated two exhibitions at US museums.  She seems to have finally found her ‘why’ in life (re: Nietzsche) by helping others.  Though it doesn’t show in this brief bio, she has a well-developed sense of humor and a daring spirit. She loves words, good food, baseball, and life in general – but not necessarily in that order.

Ruby Meador is an 8^th grader at The University School of Nashville. She was born and raised in Nashville, TN, and she loves to connect with others through travel and service. On a recent school trip to Washington DC she was inspired by a presentation by Iain Guest about the Clean Girl Soap Project. Iain shared stories of the challenges faced by girls in Zimbabwe who often couldn’t attend school due to financial constraints. Ruby was concerned by the realization that something so fundamental as education was not always available for many girls her age. She decided to partner with the girls from Zimbabwe and Clean Girl Soap as her school's “Change Project,” which highlights the changes that a student wants to see in the world. With determination and support from her school and family, Ruby and her friends transformed a small corner of her garage into a makeshift soap studio, where they experimented with soap making methods, soap types, fragrances, colors and designs. Ruby is committed to making soap and change!

Gio began working with AP early in 2020 as a Video Production Assistant, editing and producing two films highlighting projects in Uganda and Zimbabwe. Working closely with AP after his tenure as an intern, Gio has continued his involvement with the team throughout the year, recently editing a film on the acceptance of a $31,960 grant to prevent child marriages amongst young women in Zimbabwe. Through his time with AP, he has found a passion for nonprofit and humanitarian work and may pursue this interest in the future. He looks forward to his continued partnership with the Advocacy Project and creating films showcasing the fantastic work AP does!

Gill Rebelo was born in U.K. and holds dual citizenship of both U.K. and Kenya, having lived in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, since 1971. She holds a University of London Teachers’ Certificate in Home Economics, Needlework and English and has taught in London, Hong Kong and Nairobi. In 1997 Gill was one of the founder members of The Kenya Quilt Guild and she has been an active member of the Committee for over 20 years. She was also a co-founder of The Kenya Embroiderers’ Guild and served as Guild secretary for a number of years. Gill is a South African Quilters’ Guild (SAQG) Accredited Judge and a SAQG Recommended Teacher and has exhibited her quilts in Kenya, Canada, France and South Africa. In 2019 Gill was approached by The Advocacy Project to lead the training of a team of under privileged women to make a quilt for the UNFPA Summit in Nairobi. This resulted in the Woman’s World Quilt. Since then the team has made several Covid quilts many embroidered animal blocks which have been made into small quilts by quilting partners in the US under the Sister Artists scheme.

My name is Maung, and I live in the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Since 2017, I have been working to support my community through education, advocacy, and youth initiatives. I currently work as a translator with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and as a freelance journalist and storyteller, focusing on issues such as migration, human trafficking, Human Rights violation, GBV and the refugee crisis. I am passionate about amplifying the voices of marginalized Rohingya and highlighting the challenges and resilience of my community. Through writing and advocacy, I hope to bring greater global awareness and support for Rohingya refugees.

Okwir Joseph is a member of the WASH team at the Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU), an AP partner since 2008, and an aspiring writer. He plans to monitor the WASH program through blogs on this website. Joe describes himself as "a purpose-driven development practitioner, disability inclusion advocate, and passionate communicator committed to insight-driven impact." Joe adds: "I have a strong foundation in inclusive community development with focus on poverty reduction, inequality, and systemic exclusion. My blog is where my professional journey will meet personal reflection. I will write to connect, to challenge, and to influence both policy and practice, exploring the future of work, inclusion, and the power of intentional growth. I believe knowledge must transcend theory; it should influence meaningful community action and inclusive programming. Each idea shared is an open invitation to think boldly, act with purpose, and advance transformative change”. We welcome Joe to The Advocacy Project! 

Emma is a senior undergraduate at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, graduating this May with a major in Sociology and a focus on International Social Justice. She currently serves as a Global Service Learning Coordinator with the Highland Support Project, supporting the planning and outreach of service-learning trips to Guatemala and engaging students in international community development initiatives. Emma is also a Research Fellow with VCU’s Billion Worlds Lab, where she conducts research on post-graduate global study opportunities and mentors students through application and visa processes. She is eager to further develop her skills in advocacy and community development through work with Rohingya communities in the refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.