EFE Global Team

 

Jamie McAuliffe

President and CEO

Jamie McAuliffe has worked for many years to advance effective, scalable solutions for vulnerable youth. He has over two decades of experience in leadership roles in both the non-profit and business sectors. Before joining EFE, Jamie served as Portfolio Manager at the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, a NY-based foundation that pioneered a “scaling what works” grant-making strategy to support leading youth development non-profits in the United States. At the OTF Group, a spin-off of Monitor Consulting Group, Jamie provided strategic consulting services to spur exports and competitiveness in the small and medium business sector in Brazil. Early in his career, Jamie launched new programs and markets at Ashoka, a global organization that selects and invests in leading social entrepreneurs. Between receiving his BA in Philosophy from Georgetown University and his MA in International Studies from John Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, Jamie served as an inner-city school teacher for Teach for America. Jamie joined EFE in 2010.

At the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Tianjin in 2012, Jamie was named a Schwab Foundation Global Social Entrepreneur for the transformative impact that EFE is driving in youth employment. In the fall of 2012, Jamie became the Chairman of the WEF Global Agenda Council on Youth Unemployment.

Brad Kushner

Chief Financial Officer

Brad Kushner has been the C.P.A. and controller of The Brookhill Group for 14 years.

Jasmine Nahhas di Florio

Vice President, Strategy and Partnerships

Jasmine Nahhas di Florio has 15 years of experience spanning the nonprofit/philanthropy, government and private sectors. Joining EFE in 2006, she worked closely with the Founder and Chairman on EFE’s start-up. Ms. Nahhas di Florio started up and ran programs for private donors in Afghanistan: Afghan Women Leaders Connect at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and Arzu, a carpet social enterprise. Previously a corporate attorney at the international law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, she also was an attorney-advisor at the U.S. Department of Treasury. She consulted the United Nations (UNFIP) on private-public sector partnerships. A Rhodes Scholar, Frank Knox Scholar and Fulbright Scholar, she is a graduate of the University of Alberta, Oxford University and Harvard Law School.

Taleb Salhab

Vice President, Programs and Affiliate Services

Mr. Salhab has seventeen years of experience in senior leadership roles in the non-profit and private sectors. Most recently, he served as the Director of the Peace & Security Program at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, where he led a multimillion dollar grant-making program. Prior to that, Mr. Salhab served as the National Outreach Director for the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS); the largest Arab- American human services organization in the United States. In that role, he directed the programs of a national network of 21 community based organizations in ten states. Salhab spent eight years in a senior leadership position in the private sector, serving as the Director of Sales & Marketing for a large conglomerate in Florida working in the tourism and hospitality industries. Over his career, he has been a resource to civic groups and government, and has been interviewed extensively by national and international media. Born and raised in the Middle East, Mr. Salhab holds a Master of Arts in International Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Florida State University.

Elizabeth VanDerWoude

Director of Finance

Prior to joining EFE, Ms. VanDerWoude served as director of a wide range of business functions at the Henry L. Stimson Center. Her responsibilities included finance and accounting, compliance, project management, planning, human resources management, and administration. Previously she served as Senior Manager of Human Resources at Special Olympics, Inc. Ms. VanDerWoude received her Master of Business Administration from the McDonough School at Georgetown University and her Bachelor of Arts from Calvin College.

Noor Shoufani

Program Manager

Prior to joining EFE, Ms. Shoufani worked in Dubai as a Market Planning Manager for Procter & Gamble, focusing on the Arabian Gulf region. She also has experience in advertising and has worked as a freelance journalist for the Daily Star Newspaper in Beirut. Ms. Shoufani holds a Masters degree from New York University in Near Eastern Studies with a focus on Business, and an undergraduate degree from the American University of Beirut in Business and Marketing. She is fluent in Arabic and has lived and worked in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Dubai, New York and DC.

Sarah Little

Program Associate

Before joining EFE, Ms. Little worked for SOS Children’s Villages, a Washington, D.C.-based international non-profit organization, and for the Michigan State University Office of Study Abroad as a student adviser. She also interned for a non-profit, humanitarian organization called Secours Populaire Francais in Paris, France, where she worked mostly with French immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa. Sarah attended Michigan State University and holds a B.A. in International Relations with specializations in Muslim Studies and Western European Studies.

Pia Saunders

Measuring and Evaluation Manager

Ms. Saunders joined EFE in 2009. Previously, she has worked in community development and micro-finance in Accra, Ghana, Vieques, Puerto Rico, and New York. Ms. Saunders received a Master in Public Administration with a specialization in International Development from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from The Johns Hopkins University.

Mary Eleanor “Mariel” Davis

Communications & Special Projects

Ms. Davis joined EFE from Qatar, where she was an Arabic Language Fellow at Qatar University and a Program Consultant for the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative. Previously, she coordinated development and PR for the Arab American Association of New York and designed an American-Palestinian exchange exhibit for the National Children's Museum and Tomorrow's Youth Organization. In addition to her experience in Qatar, Ms. Davis has researched and worked in Egypt, Yemen and the West Bank. She graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures.

Barbra Bearden

Program Manager

Barbra Bearden has a passion for local solutions to global problems. She joined the EFE team in March of 2012 after spending six months in Cameroon teaching new media advocacy to youth for a start-up NGO based there. For nearly two years Barbra worked in Iraq with International Medical Corps--contributing to project monitoring and communication support in Baghdad--and as a Deputy Project Manager for a UNDP funded capacity building project in Basrah. While earning her Masters in International Communication from American University she worked with advocacy organizations in the US and Kosova, coordinating the strategic communication campaigns across national networks in both countries.

Elyse Inguanti

Program Assistant

Ms. Inguanti joined EFE in 2011 through EFE’s internship program. She graduated from The Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs, concentrations in International Politics and Conflict and Security, and proficiency in both French and Arabic. During her undergraduate career, Ms. Inguanti lived and studied in Rabat, Morocco and Geneva, Switzerland, where she conducted research on North African immigration and integration into Swiss society that was subsequently published in the Swiss migration journal, Asyl.