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ABOUT US

Our Team

USA for UNHCR helps and protects refugees and people displaced by violence, conflict and persecution.

Our Board

USA for UNHCR is governed by an engaging and cohesive Board of Directors who share a commitment to the goals and objectives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). With an extensive knowledge base and various expertise our Board provides advice on policy, advocacy, fundraising and programming.

All Board members are independent.

Mark Wallace — Chair

OUR BOARD

Mark Wallace — Chair

Mark Wallace, former Senior Vice President of Global Engineering and Sustainability at UPS, began his UPS career in 1986 as an engineering intern in the Desert Mountain District. He was promoted to Industrial Engineering (I.E.) section leader in 1991 and worked as a business manager prior to becoming Southeast Texas District I.E. Manager in 1993. After assignments in CACH and the North Illinois District, Mark joined the Corporate Deployment DPS/PAS team and later was named North Central Region Engineering Manager. 

In 2007 he was promoted to the Corporate I.E. International Coordinator position, responsible for developing and overseeing international I.E. strategies as well as driving growth through people development, service improvement, profit-and-loss improvement, and asset management. In 2012, Mark was named to the TNT Express Integration Planning team as the International I.E Coordinator. That special assignment team’s duties included understanding of TNT Express’ network and operational detail as well as coordinating proper planning for integration complexities and challenges. After that assignment, he was named Corporate U.S. Engineering Coordinator.

Mark has a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Arizona State University.

Kelly Blevins — Vice Chair

OUR BOARD

Kelly Blevins — Vice Chair

Kelly Blevins is University Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at Georgetown University. She concentrates her practices on issues related to sponsored research, clinical trials, technology transfer, hospital affiliations, benefits, and various other compliance topics. Prior to joining Georgetown in 2006, she was an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Covington & Burling. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Villanova University. Kelly is a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) and has spoken at several NACUA conferences.

William Ball — Secretary

OUR BOARD

William Ball — Secretary

Will Ball’s Caterpillar career includes cross functional and leadership experiences in pricing, factory scheduling, new product introduction, manufacturing, accounting, auditing, governmental affairs (Washington, D.C., and Peoria-area), the Office of Business Practices, Enterprise Fraud Compliance and the Caterpillar Foundation. His career spans seven Caterpillar divisions and six relocations — including international experience in Singapore.

As a former Vice President of the Caterpillar Foundation (2007-11), Ball led the Foundation’s global expansion and support of various human sustainability initiatives. From 2007 to 2011, the Caterpillar Foundation’s philanthropic footprint expanded from 20 countries to over 70 countries.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Virginia State University and an MBA from Duke University’s Global Executive MBA program.

Ball’s community service includes the boards of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, Peoria Chamber of Commerce (former Chairman), The Greater Peoria Business Alliance (former Executive Committee member) and Quest Charter Academy (Treasurer) and Singapore American School (former Vice Chairman). At Caterpillar, Ball serves on the corporate Benefits Funds Committee and Caterpillar Political Action Committee Board.

Yasmin Causer — Treasurer

OUR BOARD

Yasmin Causer — Treasurer

Yasmin Causer is a partner in the Private Client Services Group at KLR, an accounting firm in Boston, Massachusetts, where she advises high net worth individuals and their families in tax matters. Yasmin’s focus is on helping individuals and families manage, monitor and evaluate their financial situation. She has advised clients on gifting strategies, philanthropic planning and multi-generation wealth transfer opportunities.

Biar Kuek — Board Member

OUR BOARD

Biar Kuek — Board Member

Biar Kuek was born in a small village in South Sudan. When he was seven years old, he was forced to flee his home amid the country’s brutal civil war. As a result, he became one of the famed “Lost Boys of South Sudan,” the victims of the largest systematic program of child genocide since the Nazi Holocaust. 

Raised in refugee camps, he eventually made it to the United States, where he started out as a janitor. With hard work and determination, fueled by the American Dream, he completed two university degrees — a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and an MBA from Regis University — which led to him being hired as an audit manager at Las Vegas Sands Corp., a Fortune 500 company.

In 2014, Biar was named to Fortune Magazine’s “Heroes of the 500” for his extraordinary story of personal success combined with his charitable work for other children suffering from persecution and poverty.

Never forgetting where he came from, Biar serves on the boards of Refugee Congress, and ECDC African Community Center Las Vegas. He is also the founder of the South Sudan Center of America, a nonprofit that assists refugees, as well as one of the founding directors of the African Diaspora of Las Vegas.

Biar is a collaborative, highly detailed professional with over 20 years of successful leadership, audit, accounting, and finance experience in the hospitality industry and over 22 years of experience advocating for refugees and immigrants as a nationally recognized community and nonprofit leader. He excels at developing strong, lasting relationships in business, the media, Hollywood, and with government officials, from the mayor to members of Congress.

Biar is a proof-of-concept humanitarian subject matter expert and has been a keynote speaker at the Beverly Hills Hilton and the University of California, Los Angeles among other public schools, colleges, universities, businesses, and community organizations. In 2020, Biar testified in the United States Congress during the House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Refugees.

Biar now owns and operates real estate and healthcare businesses and provides coaching and training to help refugees build a new purpose-driven life.

Rachael Jarosh — Board Member

OUR BOARD

Rachael Jarosh — Board Member

Rachael Jarosh is a pioneering executive leader and philanthropist who has built a distinctive professional portfolio in law, finance, communications and philanthropic strategy during her 30+ year career. Jarosh previously served as President & CEO of Enactus, the largest experiential education platform for next-gen social innovators, and as President of the Pentair Foundation. She currently serves on the boards of Lifetime Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: LCUT) and select community service organizations.

Mark Lopes — Board Member

OUR BOARD

Mark Lopes — Board Member

Mark Lopes is currently a senior advisor at the Inter-American Development Bank. Previously, he was the President/COO of the Partnership for Central America, and VP of partnerships at a New York based technology startup. Under President Barack Obama, Lopes served as the 16th U.S. executive director to the Inter-American Development Bank and deputy assistant administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Matthew Marolda — Board Member

OUR BOARD

Matthew Marolda — Board Member

Matthew Marolda is an entrepreneur and investor with a specialty in data and data science. Most recently he was the President of Applied Analytics at WarnerMedia. Prior to WarnerMedia, he was Chief Analytics Officer at Legendary Entertainment. Previously, he founded StratBridge, which built a “moneyball” statistical analysis platform used by professional sports franchises around the world to identify players and to inform game preparation.

Jane Meseck — Board Member

OUR BOARD

Jane Meseck — Board Member

Jane has served the nonprofit and humanitarian sectors for 30 years.  Formerly Sr. Director for Microsoft Philanthropies, Jane was a leader in Microsoft’s social impact work for over 24 years. As Microsoft’s Global Lead for Humanitarian, she led programs and partnerships supporting international humanitarian organizations and the communities they serve, respond, and rebuild from crisis.

Jane has been a fixture in the nonprofit tech segment, leading Microsoft’s effort to help nonprofits and humanitarian organizations adopt and use technology for mission.  She led Microsoft technology donations for over 20 years scaling donations to 235 countries and $1B FMV.  She helped build NTEN and supported TechSoup's growth as the premier global online nonprofit resource. In 2017, Jane helped create Microsoft’s Tech for Social Impact team bringing together the best of Microsoft’s commercial ecosystem with renowned philanthropy programs.  In July 2020, Jane formed a new Philanthropies’ team to help expand humanitarian efforts to empower humanitarian organizations and crisis affected communities thru technology, including AI for Humanitarian Action.  In 2018, Jane received NTEN’s Lifetime Achievement Award recognizing her role in shaping the field of nonprofit technology.

 

Jane currently serves on the Board of Directors of USA for UNHCR and GlobalWA as well as leading The Meseck Schick Family Foundation, continuing her personal mission to support humanitarian and global development nonprofits.

Eric Sprunk— Board Member

OUR BOARD

Eric Sprunk— Board Member

Eric Sprunk had been, at the time of his retirement in August 2020, Chief Operating Officer of Nike, Inc. since 2013. During his 27 years at Nike, Sprunk held various executive positions of increasing responsibility, including Executive Vice President, Global Product and Merchandising from 2008 to 2013 and Executive Vice President and General Manager, Global Footwear from 2001 to 2008. He is a member of the Board of Directors of General Mills and Bombardier.

Virginia Tenpenny — Board Member

OUR BOARD

Virginia Tenpenny — Board Member

Virginia B. Tenpenny is an industry leader and pioneer in corporate social impact with over 20 years of global experience across ethical sourcing, philanthropy, sustainability, social innovation, and workforce development. Serving as Starbucks Chief Global Social Impact Officer, she led global strategy around the intersection of business priorities, social impact, philanthropy, and stakeholder engagement. In 2023, she joined Goodera to serve as President, North America and Chief Impact Officer where she helps companies connect the desire to do good with an unmatched global infrastructure to host and curate corporate volunteering programs that serve nonprofit needs and maximize impact in communities throughout the world.

Virginia joined the board of USA for UNHCR in 2018 and serves as the Chair of the Program Committee.

Beth Turner — Board Member

OUR BOARD

Beth Turner — Board Member

Beth Turner is a General Partner at SV Angel, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that has invested in early-stage companies such as Square, Pinterest, Doordash and Airbnb. She is the Chair of USA for UNHCR’s Humanitarian Coalition, an advisory group of young leaders and future philanthropists. Along with working at two early startups, prior to SV Angel Beth invested with a family office focused on seed stage opportunities and worked for an international NGO after graduating from MIT.

Dr. Liberty Vittert — Board Member

OUR BOARD

Dr. Liberty Vittert — Board Member

Professor Liberty Vittert is a Professor of the Practice of Data Science at the Olin Business School at the Washington University in St. Louis and a Visiting Lecturer at Harvard University as well as being the Feature Editor of the Harvard Data Science Review and co-host of the Harvard Data Science Review podcast. She is also the host of the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) podcast for the Institute of Data, Systems and Society. She is a graduate of MIT as well as Le Cordon Bleu Paris and the University of Glasgow.

Liberty is a regular TV and Radio contributor to many news organizations as well as having her own TV series on UK television. She is the resident on-air statistician for NewsNation an opinion editorial contributor for the Fox News Channel, and her pieces have been featured in Popular Science, US News, Newsweek, Business Insider, International Business Times, CBS News, MarketWatch, Boston Globe, and The Conversation. She has a weekly column on Fox Business titled "A Statistician's Guide to Life".  As a Royal Statistical Society Ambassador, BBC Expert Woman, and an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute, Liberty writes popular science books on data. She is also an Associate Editor for the Harvard Data Science Review and is on the board of USA for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as well at the HIVE, a US UN Refugee Agency data initiative for refugees. She is also on the International Advisory Council of the UN Migration Agency (IOM).

Charity Wallace — Board Member

OUR BOARD

Charity Wallace — Board Member

Charity Wallace, founder and president of Wallace Global Impact, is a pioneering executive leader with expertise in social impact, foreign policy, global development and women’s empowerment. Wallace previously served as the Senior Vice President for the Office of Strategic Initiatives and Managing Director of Global Women’s Issues at U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and as a Senior Advisor to Laura Bush and the George W. Bush Institute.

Our Advisory Council

The Advisory Council is comprised of influential business leaders and philanthropists who are advising USA for UNHCR on new strategies, tactics and connections for breakthrough solutions and resources to address the global refugee crisis.

Advisory Council Co-Chairs

The Humanitarian Coalition

The Humanitarian Coalition is comprised of next generation philanthropists and business leaders who are working to further USA for UNHCR’s mission by helping raise funds and awareness. Coalition members from across the U.S. bring a wealth of passion, influence and connections that will help to empower refugees with hope and opportunity.

Humanitarian Coalition Members

Suzanne Ehlers, Executive Director and CEO

Suzanne Ehlers

Prior to joining USA for UNHCR, Suzanne Ehlers served as CEO of Malala Fund, where she worked closely with co-founders Malala and Ziauddin Yousafzai to create a world where all girls can attain an education. Before joining Malala Fund, Ehlers was President and CEO of PAI, a global advocacy leader in protecting and promoting the reproductive health and rights of women and girls. Ehlers has held numerous board and advisory positions and, early in her career, served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the C.A.R. She holds a bachelor's degree in Government from Cornell University.

LinkedIn

Senior Leadership

The Hive

Founded in 2015, The Hive’s mission is to engage with the American public to raise awareness about refugees and design solutions that address their needs through technology and data science. The Hive supports USA for UNHCR's goals by:

The work of The Hive is guided by the Hive Advisory Board (HAB) to provide leadership and strategic support. The HAB is composed of leaders from diverse backgrounds in the corporate sector, government, nonprofit and academia.

It’s a Global Challenge

Humanitarian emergencies around the world have produced record levels of displacement and human suffering.

100 Million

children, women and men displaced by spiraling crises around the world.

1% of Humanity

displaced by violence, conflict or persecution.

80% of Refugees

are hosted in countries affected by acute food insecurity and malnutrition.

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