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Lisa is an experienced professional with over thirty years in the field of fundraising and administration She has worked at non-profit organizations whose supporters are passionate about the mission including New England Conservatory of Music, Oxfam America, The Community Group, and WEEMA International. Lisa is currently the Chief of Staff for the CEO of the Lowell Community Health Center.

Lisa’s introduction to the Maranyundo Girls School was in 2005 when she worked with the founding group of dedicated volunteers to raise the funds needed to build the school in Nyamata, Rwanda. She followed the progress of the schools and the girls with pride ever since, and joined the Board in December 2020: “I am delighted to join the Maranyundo Board. It was a true honor and a privilege to be involved at the very beginning. Aloisea and Sister Ann’s vision for the school was inspiring and working with the volunteers who came together to make the dream a reality was incredibly rewarding. I’m delighted to continue my Maranyundo journey and support opportunities for these incredibly wonderful girls.”

She has a B. A. in English and German from St. Olaf College. She and her husband, Howard Amidon, live in North Andover with their dog Perry who is doing his best to take the place of their three grown children.

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Melissa joined the board of the Maranyundo Initiative in December of 2018. She had been following the story of the Maranyundo Girls School for years and turned a dream into reality in 2016 when she spent a month living, teaching, and learning at the school together with her husband and their three daughters. She is inspired by the amazing community and the love of learning that are the hallmarks of the school.

Currently, Melissa is in her eighteenth year of teaching social studies courses in world history and international issues at Concord-Carlisle High School. Previously she directed the Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project and Caspian Studies Program at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. In her role there she also attended the Women Waging Peace conference (albeit with the Russian delegation) where the seeds for the Maranyundo Initiative were set.

Melissa has a long-standing interest in cross-cultural education. She lived and worked in Russia for six years directing cultural and educational exchange programs. She also served for seventeen years on the board of PH International which works to build strong global communities by fostering civic engagement, cross-cultural learning, and increased opportunities in the digital age.
. Melissa holds a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton University where she focused on international development and education policy and a BA in Political Science from Amherst College.

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Meredith Hanrahan is the SVP/GM of Ecommerce and SMB at Monster Worldwide. She is a seasoned general manager with 25+ years of experience. Recently, she co-founded Vivoom, a mobile video app and platform that won MITX’s 2015 Most Innovative Ad Platform and Best Mobile Campaign. As an experienced Chief Marketing Officer for 10+ years she has led cross-functional teams for leading digital and consumer brand companies such as Lycos (for which she received a Forbes Best of Web Award). Prior to this, she led brand management teams at General Mills, Lindt Chocolate, Heublein (now Diego), and Miller Lite. She is a mentor at the Harvard i-Lab, serves on the MIT Enterprise Forum’s Innovation Series Board and served on the advisory board for Chitika, Inc.. She also served on a marketing advisory board for an educational non-profit in Atlanta that helped high school dropouts graduate via an alternative school model. Prior to this, she was a strategy consultant with KPMG and McKinsey & Co. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from the University of New Hampshire.

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Kailey Theriault Baird is an attorney who currently works as Corporate Counsel at Bitumar, a multinational, privately held corporation. She is responsible for providing legal counsel on a wide variety of issues. Kailey has lived in Montreal, Geneva, Grenoble, and now resides in Boston with her husband and two young daughters. Kailey received her Juris Doctorate degree from Suffolk University Law School in Boston and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from Queen’s University in Canada. She is currently a member of the Spruce Street Nursery School Board of Directors and is fluent in French

Kailey first learned about the Maranyundo Initiative from Annie Weiss in 2018. She has always been overwhelmingly impressed with the success story of Rwanda, a country that overcame tremendous adversity, and one we all should look to for a lesson in community and perseverance. As a mother of two little girls, Kailey has always believed that education is the most valuable gift you can provide. She is an advocate for empowering young women and expanding our global community and has been incredibly impressed with the alumnae of Maranyundo. Kailey is confident that these graduates will continue to be our future leaders.

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Owen Boucher works at SailPoint Technologies as a Corporate Account Executive selling identity security to enterprise-level organizations. He had previously worked at Oracle-NetSuite working on business development. Before that, he studied at Ithaca College and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing

Owen first visited Rwanda in 2022 with his mother who brought him to the Maranyundo Girls School where he was truly inspired by these young women. Once he was there, he knew it would be impossible to leave and not do more. Since then, he has fundraised for the school, and in 2024, he ran the Falmouth Road Race in honor of Maranyundo. In 2025, Owen will be Maranyundo's team captain. He is focused on helping the development committee expand its fundraising efforts in creative ways.

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Isabelle has a long history of being connected and involved with the Maranyundo Initiative. She is the daughter of board member, Kathy Kantengwa and went to Westover High School in Connecticut where Founder Anna Pollina was the Head of the school and took her under her wing when she came to the US from Rwanda.

Isabelle currently teaches at the International University in Geneva, Switzerland. She has worked in higher education institutions, notably at Wheaton College where she developed and ran international high school summer programs, and Harvard University where she served as a teaching fellow for various courses. She has also worked at Babson College creating education materials geared to improving teaching activities in classrooms related to entrepreneurship. Previously, she was the Country Director in Rwanda of IDEA for Africa where she focused on developing youth entrepreneurial leadership programs.

Isabelle holds a Master’s in International Education Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Education ‘17 and a B.S in Business Administration from Babson College ’13 and is excited to support outreach to alumni with MI.

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Leanne has spent the last 15 years working with clients to improve their marketing and communications, most recently for Gannett. She started her career in television production producing Boston Red Sox baseball games, college hockey games and was awarded an Emmy Award for producing the Opening & Closing Ceremonies for the 2002 Winter Olympic games. She holds a BS from Suffolk University and an MS from Boston University. Leanne was drawn to the Maranyundo Initiative as educating and inspiring girls around the world is one of her passions, she joined the board as she saw what passion + planning could accomplish at the Maranyundo Girls School.

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Lani Cooper has been involved with the Maranyundo Initiative since its establishment. With over 15 years of business development and marketing experience, Lani has worked as a market and strategic research consultant for a healthcare consulting firm since 2005. Lani was previously the Manager of Business Development and Marketing at VNA of Care New England, where she was responsible for all aspects of business planning, new program design and implementation and physician relations. She previously held product and process management positions at several major healthcare organizations including Providence Health System and Children’s Hospital in Seattle, Georgetown Hospital in DC and Children’s Hospital in Boston. Lani holds an MBA from University of Washington and a BA from Hamilton College.

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Kristin is an experienced technologist with 20+ years in software development management working at companies such as Salesforce and Google. Kristin has been a long-time friend of the Initiative and visited the Maranyundo school with her family in 2015 where ”she fell in love with the girls, the empowering STEM mission of the school and the commitment to academic excellence.” She also supports other MIT programs in Rwanda around sustainable energy and is interested in the opportunities around the e-waste recycling efforts. Kristin has a passion for coaching and mentoring and using those talents to help the Initiative advance its mission. A graduate of MIT and Washington University in St Louis, Kristin joined the Board in March 2021 and is “very excited to work with the amazing women on this board and eager to help Maranyundo lean into the use of technology to capitalize on virtual learning opportunities”. She and her husband, Paulmer, live with their two sons and four dogs in Palo Alto, California.

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Originally from New England, Claire lives in Providence, RI. She's spent nearly a decade developing renewable energy and energy efficiency projects for municipalities, school districts, and nonprofits.

In September 2018, Claire was introduced to the Maranyundo Initiative and the Maranyundo Girls School by Lani Cooper, then Interim Director. Claire traveled to Rwanda with Board members and Sustainers in 2019 to visit the Maranyundo Girls School and Kigali, and celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Benebikira Order. Over the last few years, Claire has worked with the Maranyundo Development team to assist with Development Committee efforts, newsletters, photography, graphic design, and social media.

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Nicole Masozera is a public health and nutrition professional with a background in research and policy analysis, specifically in food systems. She holds an MSc in Global Health Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA in Community Health and French from Tufts University. She currently works at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), a regional agricultural institution, where she is an advisor at Rwanda's Ministry of Youth and Arts, supporting the design and implementation of youth agriculture programs. She is passionate about understanding the lives of those impacted by policies and programs, ensuring that their perspectives shape policy by amplifying their voices. When not at work, Nicole enjoys reading about systems thinking and sustainable development, particularly in the context of multi-stakeholder engagement and coordination in partnerships that aim to improve livelihoods through job creation and better health outcomes.

The Maranyundo School holds deep personal significance for Nicole. It began as a vision of her mother, Aloisea Inyumba, alongside Sister Ann Fox and other extraordinary women from Boston, who, in December 1999, laid the foundation for what would become a beacon of hope in Nyamata, Bugesera. With the support of the Government of Rwanda, their commitment blossomed into a school that has grown from its first cohort of 60 girls in 2008 to a thriving middle and high school serving 450 students. The Maranyundo School’s journey embodies the transformative power of education, weaving a new story into the tapestry of Rwanda’s future. As a product of an all-girls education at the Westover School, Nicole understands firsthand how such an experience fosters academic excellence and empowers young women to reach new heights. Joining the Maranyundo Initiative Board is a privilege in honoring her mother’s legacy, collaborating with a group of individuals deeply committed to Rwanda, and contributing to nurturing the potential of young girls whose futures will undoubtedly shape our world.

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Juliet Musabeyezu is a medical student at Harvard Medical School. She first moved to Boston from Kigali in 2011 to attend Harvard College, where she graduated with a degree in Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. She then spent two years working in Global Health - first with Last Mile Health in Liberia designing community health worker programs and supporting mobile clinics in the aftermath of Ebola, and then with the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda building curriculum for a Master’s Degree Program in Global Health Equity. Her interests include women’s health and reproductive justice. In her free time, Juliet is keenly interested in short-story fiction writing and storytelling more broadly.

Juliet first learned about the Maranyundo Girls School from her friend and classmate Isabelle Byusa. She joined the Maranyundo Initiative excited to work with a committed group of women eager to improve education for young women in Rwanda through innovation, community, and a strong sense of purpose.

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Daphne Petri has been on the Maranyundo Initiative Board since 2011 and served her tenure as Chair from 2014 to 2019. Daphne is the Principal of Daphne Petri Architects, and in addition to MI serves on the Board of Directors of Gardens for Health International and on the National Advisory Board for the Union of Concerned Scientists. She is on the Advisory Committee for Jewish Family and Children’s Service Center for Early Relationship Support and has been a longtime Volunteer with the Visiting Moms Program at JFCS. BA Kirkland/Hamilton College ’72, Master of Architecture MIT ’76. Daphne lives in Massachusetts and is married with two grown daughters who live in San Francisco. She thrives on an active life of service at home and abroad and fun with family and friends.

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Deborah Scarff trained to become an X-ray technician, working in several hospitals in Boston, and later relocating to work in Honolulu, Hawaii. While in Hawaii, she developed an interest in photography and decided to combine that interest with her X-ray career by pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Photographic Communications at the Rochester Institute of Technology. After graduation she worked at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary before starting her own business, “The Better Light,” which specialized in both medical imaging and high-quality commercial and architectural photography. She was commissioned by the Episcopal Cathedral in Boston to create and exhibit a one-person photographic experience called “God’s Light in Holy Places.” The exhibit was later expanded into a published book of environmental portraits of Episcopal priests, entitled Lifestyles of the Spiritually Rich and Famous. After a 30-year career, she recently “retired” in order to more fully concentrate on her interests in helping women and enhancing women’s rights and education, especially through international outreach opportunities. She was introduced to the Maranyundo Girls School through Trinity Episcopal Church Concord in 2011 and joined the Maranyundo Initiative board in 2016.

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Caroline is a former engineer and a committed volunteer in the fields of education, public service, and microfinance. Currently, Caroline is the Chair of the Friends of the PKG Public Service Center at MIT where she advises on projects and efforts to create and spread awareness of the Center's student activities and achievements. She is also a member of the Council for the Arts at MIT, reviewing grant proposals from students and faculty for funding for their arts-related projects, and supporting MIT’s Arts Scholars, and she serves as an Educational Counselor for MIT, interviewing high school seniors applying for undergraduate admission. For the microfinance organization, Kiva.org, she leads a team of volunteer French translators. Caroline has been a long-time supporter of Maranyundo and visited the school in 2015 with her family; she joined the Maranyundo Board in early 2021, excited to help enable these enthusiastic young women to enter STEM fields. Caroline has a lot of experience mentoring young high school students and wants to apply her experience to support the school's academic mission, as well as help advance the college prep and counseling strategies. Caroline has degrees from the University of California San Diego, with a MS in Bioengineering, and MIT, with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Caroline has two children and shares MIT alumni status with her son, a recent graduate of MIT, and lives in Menlo Park, California.

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Madhuri is Global Head of Information Reporting and Tax Withholding at Interactive Brokers LLC. Interactive Brokers is a global broker-dealer with offices worldwide and over $12.7 billion in equity capital. In this role, Madhuri oversees US and international information reporting and tax withholding worldwide for all IB’s locations. Madhuri joined IB in 2017, bringing extensive industry experience across several international firms. Madhuri graduated cum laude from Boston University, received a JD from the University of Arizona School of Law and a L.L.M in Taxation from Boston University School of Law. She is a member of both the New York and Massachusetts Bar.

Madhuri believes that women should help and lift each other whenever they can. She is excited to join Maranyundo's Board not just for her love of STEM, but also for her goal of educating women. She is excited to see what the girls of Maranyundo come up with to help themselves and become the brilliant women of the future.

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Chantal Umuhoza is from Kigali, Rwanda. She went to the Maranyundo Girls School for middle school and graduated from MGS in 2012. Since there was no high school at MGS at the time, she went to Gashora Girls Academy and graduated in 2015. From there, she studied at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, and received a BA in Physics in 2020. She continued her studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and received a Master of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering. She currently works as a Power Systems Engineer at a Power Systems Consulting company called RLC Engineering based in South Portland, Maine.

Chantal is excited to join the Maranyundo Board to give back to what Maranyundo gave to her. She feels she is where she is today because of her education at MGS. She wants to join the Post-Secondary Committee to help students navigate this critical stage of their lives and provide mentorship and guidance.

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Annie Weiss PhD, is a licensed Psychologist with over 20 years of experience working with children, adolescents and adults in inner-city schools and therapeutic settings. She has previously designed and run therapeutic programs for high school students with severe mental illness. She currently sees patients in her private practice. Annie first visited the Maranyundo School in 2013 and has followed its growth since that time. She is excited to join the board to support the development of academic and mental health programming for students across Rwanda. She holds a BA from Williams College and a PhD in Psychology from Tulane University. She completed her internship training at Boston University’s Center for Multicultural Training and her Post-Doctoral fellowship at Cambridge Hospital. Annie and her husband live in Boston, MA with their three young children.

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Julia Samton MD has served on the Maranyundo board since 2018. She is a board-certified neurologist and psychiatrist in private practice in New York City. Her unique training gives her the expertise to diagnose and treat a diverse range of mood disorders. Her specialties include attention deficit disorder (ADHD), depression, anxiety, stress management, insomnia, and other conditions causing poor mood and behavioral health. This expertise allows her to examine the impact of these diagnoses on affect, behavior and emotion at the individual and community level.

She is affiliated with New York Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center and Lenox Hill Hospital, and is the founder of Manhattan Neuropsychiatric PC as well as co-founder of The Midtown Practice in Manhattan. At Manhattan Neuropsychiatric, Dr. Samton also provides neuropsychological testing to diagnose and treat ADHD, guide career selection, and help optimize professional and academic achievement.

Julia first found out about Maranyundo from her good friend and Board member, Lani Cooper as well as Lani’s mother Joyce Fletcher. She has visited the school on several occasions and is inspired to help more through the Development Committee.

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Lydie E. Uwantege is a Civil Engineer with over a decade of experience in infrastructure development, specializing in construction projects, hydroelectric power, road networks, and water supply systems. She has expertise in construction management, contract administration, and public procurement, ensuring efficient and sustainable project execution. As Operations Manager at Delta Developers, a real estate firm specializing in high-end residential projects, she oversees strategic planning, operational efficiency, and stakeholder engagement. Committed to mentorship and knowledge-sharing, she volunteers with Engineers Without Borders (EWB-USA & EWB-UK) and serves on the ASCE Government Engineers Council, contributing to public infrastructure policy discussions. Beyond engineering, she is a published author, recently releasing A Melody in Words, a poetry collection on Amazon, showcasing her passion for storytelling and artistic expression.

Lydie’s passion for education and community empowerment aligns with the mission of the Maranyundo Initiative, and she is eager to bring her experience and enthusiasm to help the Initiative thrive. Her interest in joining the Development and Marketing Committee is driven by her experience in strategic planning, event management, and fundraising. Lydie is keen to contribute her skills to increase the Initiative’s visibility and support its growth. Additionally, with her expertise in partnership development and project management, she is well-positioned to support the MTLC Taskforce in strengthening the Maranyundo Training and Learning Center’s partnerships in Rwanda.