Where We Work: USA: Advisory Council

Sajeda Amin

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

Sajeda Amin is a senior associate in the Policy Research Division where she has worked since 1995. She is interested in a range of issues related to gender, work, poverty, and family in the developing world. She is currently involved in studies in Bangladesh, Egypt, and Vietnam on young people’s livelihood strategies with a focus on socially and economically vulnerable populations. This is part of a larger programme on transitions to adulthood.

Amin combines quantitative and qualitative techniques in her research. Prior to coming to the Population Council, Amin was a research fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies in Dhaka. She received a Ph.D. in demography and sociology from Princeton University in 1988. Amin is affiliated with the Population Council's Poverty, Gender, and Youth programme.

Peter Buffett
 

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

Peter Buffett is a well established musician, composer and producer as well as Co-Chairman of the NoVo Foundation. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Buffett began his career in San Francisco writing music for commercials.

After recording four albums for Narada Records, Buffett signed with Epic, and then Hollywood Records resulting in four additional releases. His Emmy award winning CD, entitled Ojibwe, was released on his own label, BisonHead. Highlights of his film and television work include the Fire Dance scene in the Oscar-winning film Dances With Wolves, and the entire score for 500 Nations _ the 8 hour miniseries produced by Kevin Costner for CBS.

Buffett’s theatrical production, Spirit – The Seventh Fire, was located on the National Mall for the Smithsonian’s opening of the National Museum of the American Indian. Spirit – The Seventh Fire combines Imax scale film and imagery, all native dancers and a live band to tell the story of one man’s journey towards reconnection through his heritage and the land we live in.

As Co-Chairman of the NoVo Foundation, Buffett helps guide the strategic plan that he and his wife, Jennifer, then go on to  implement with a small dedicated staff over the coming years.

Jennifer Buffett
 

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

Jennifer Buffett shares her work as President of the NoVo Foundation with her husband, composer and philanthropist, Peter Buffett. She has worked in philanthropy since 1997, providing grants mainly to arts, social service, human rights and environmental projects. She and her husband based themselves in Wisconsin, where she grew up, before moving to New York in 2005.

For a multi-million dollar touring show called, “Spirit -The Seventh Fire” created by Peter Buffett, she secured sponsorships, funding and partners, organised events as well as media and related programming in five U.S. cities. She has a passionate interest in the natural world, supporting girls and women around the globe, gender equality and peace.

Martha Chen
 

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

Martha Chen, Lecturer in Public Policy, is coordinator of the global research policy network, Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising (WIEGO). An experienced development practitioner and scholar, her areas of specialisation are gender and poverty alleviation, with a focus on issues of employment and livelihoods. Before joining Harvard University in 1987, she lived for 15 years in Bangladesh where she worked with BRAC, and in India where she served as field representative of Oxfam America for India and Bangladesh.

She is the author of numerous books, including, most recently, Progress of the World's Women 2005: Women, Work, and Poverty; Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture; and Perpetual Mourning: Widowhood in Rural India. Chen received a PhD in South Asia regional studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

Lynn Freedman
 

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

Lynn P. Freedman is the director of the Averting Maternal Death and Disability (AMDD) Program and of the Law and Policy Project, both in the Mailman School’s Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health. Before joining the faculty at Columbia University in 1990, she worked as a practicing attorney in New York City. Professor Freedman has been a leading figure in the field of health and human rights, working extensively with women’s groups and human rights NGOs internationally. She has published widely on issues of health and human rights, with a particular focus on gender and women’s health. She is currently serving as a senior adviser to the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Child Health and Maternal Health and is the lead author of the Task Force’s Final Report “Who’s Got the Power: Transforming Health Systems for Women and Children.”

Adrienne Germain
 

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

Adrienne Germain, President of the International Women's Health Coalition, has worked for almost 35 years to promote women's opportunities, health, and rights in developing countries. She is a visionary who helped revolutionize the way the world views population policy by making the health and rights of women central. Earlier in her career, as the Ford Foundation’s youngest—and first woman—country representative, Adrienne lived in Bangladesh for four years and directed the Foundation's programs in agriculture, rural employment, international economics, women's rights, arts and culture, and reproductive health. In the mid-1980s, Adrienne joined and revitalized the International Women's Health Coalition, turning it into a leading international advocate for women's sexual health and rights. As part of a consortium of donors, advisers, and agencies, she worked with the Bangladesh government and civil society organizations to design the first national health and population policy based on ICPD principles. Adrienne was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Bard College for her longtime "service to the well being of women throughout the world." and was named a Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of Greater New York in October 2005.

Raymond C. Offenheiser
 

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

Ray Offenheiser is the president of Oxfam America. Since Mr. Offenheiser joined Boston-based Oxfam America in 1995, the organization has grown more than fourfold in size and has positioned itself as an expert on international development and global trade. Mr. Offenheiser, who has worked his entire career in the non-profit sector, is a recognized leader on issues such as poverty alleviation, human rights, foreign assistance, and international development. Before joining Oxfam America, he served for five years as the Ford Foundation Representative in Bangladesh and, prior to that, in the Andean and Southern Cone regions of South America. He has also directed programs for the Inter-American Foundation in both Brazil and Colombia and worked for Save the Children Federation in Mexico. Mr. Offenheiser holds a Masters Degree in Development Sociology from Cornell University and earned his Bachelors Degree from the University of Notre Dame. He speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese.

Rachel Payne
 

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

Rachel Payne is a country manager for Uganda at Google. In her previous position at Google.org, she managed the grant and investment portfolio for the East Africa SME initiative, which is focused on increasing investment in small- and medium-sized enterprises and building a supporting ecosystem for SMEs in Africa. Rachel was a co-founder and former board director of inDplay, a media company providing cross-platform distribution for independent and professionally-produced content and has worked with a number of high-tech firms and start-up companies in Silicon Valley, including eBay, IDG, Razorfish and Hotwire. Her international work experience includes microfinance field work in Latin America and Africa. Rachel has worked on projects with ACCION International/Compartamos, Grameen Technology Center (Village Phone Uganda), HP/USAID, local micro-enterprise development. She is an advisor to the Branson School of Entrepreneurship and served on the board of Occupational Knowledge International. Rachel has an MBA from Stanford University with certificates in Public Management and Global Management and she has a BA with distinction from Smith College.

Mary Robinson
 

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

Mary Robison is the first woman President of Ireland (1990-1997), former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002), and founder and President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative (2002-2010). In 1988, Mary and her husband founded the Irish Centre for European Law at the Trinity College where she was elected University Chancellor ten years later. The recipient of numerous honours and awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama, Mary is a member of the Elders, former Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders and a member of the Club of Madrid. She is chair of the GAVI Alliance Board and President of the International Commission of Jurists. She serves on several boards including the Global Compact, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and the American Philosophical Society. Mary has recently returned to live in Ireland, following the planned end of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative in December 2010. She now serves as President of the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice. She was educated at the University of Dublin (Trinity College), King’s Inns Dublin and Harvard Law School to which she won a fellowship in 1967.

Jennefer Sebstad
 

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

Jennefer Sebstad is a Nairobi-based independent consultant working with non-governmental groups on enterprise development and women's programs. Her academic training includes undergraduate studies in geography at the University of Michigan and graduate work in urban and regional planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her work experience includes assignments with the Ford Foundation, the US Agency for International Development, the World Bank, the International Centre for Research on Women (Washington, DC), and the Self Employed Women's Association (Ahmedabad, India).

Stephen Smith
 

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

Stephen C. Smith is a professor of economics at The George Washington University. He has conducted research in India, China, Taiwan, Ecuador, Slovenia, Italy, Egypt, Germany, Bangladesh, Peru, Tanzania and Uganda. He also served as an organizer of the International Development Studies Program (IDS), then as its first director between 1992 and 1996. He also taught development economics at the Foreign Service Institute. Mr. Smith received his Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University and has been a Fulbright Research Scholar and a Jean Monnet Research Fellow.

Amartya Sen
 

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

Amartya Sen is Lamont University Professor, and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, at Harvard University and was until recently the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He is an Indian citizen. Amartya Sen’s books have been translated into more than thirty languages, and include Development as Freedom (1999) among many others. His research has ranged over a number of fields in economics, philosophy, and decision theory, including social choice theory, welfare economics, theory of measurement, development economics, public health, gender studies, moral and political philosophy, and the economics of peace and war. Among the awards he has received are the “Bharat Ratna” (the highest honour awarded by the President of India); the Senator Giovanni Agnelli International Prize in Ethics; the Alan Shawn Feinstein World Hunger Award; the Edinburgh Medal; the Brazilian Ordem do Merito Cientifico (Grã-Cruz); the Presidency of the Italian Republic Medal; the Eisenhower Medal; Honorary Companion of Honour (U.K.); The George C. Marshall Award, and the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Diana Taylor
 

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

Diana Taylor joined Wolfensohn & Co., an investment banking firm, as a Managing Director in April, 2007.  She has more than 20 years of experience serving in both the public and private sectors.  She started her career as an investment banker, working for Smith Barney, then Lehman Brothers, then Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette.  She then held various positions in the State government, including Chief Financial Officer of the Long Island Power Authority, and Deputy Secretary to the Governor for Housing and Finance.  From 2003 to 2007 she held the position of Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York, a post to which she was nominated by Governor George Pataki and confirmed by the State Senate.  Ms. Taylor serves on the Board of Directors of Citibank, Sotheby’s  and Brookfield Properties.  In addition, she serves on several not for profit boards, including Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, the New York Women’s Foundation, the International Women’s Health Coalition, and she chairs ACCION International and a commission for the Federal Depository Insurance Corporation concentrating on financially underserved communities.  Ms. Taylor is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Elaine Wolfensohn
 

BRAC USA Advisory Council Member

For over forty years, Elaine Wolfensohn has been involved in the fields of education and arts education while raising her family.  Her work in Australia and the United States has included teaching in private schools, creating teen tutoring programs in inner city schools, and training adult volunteers to tutor high school students.  Mrs. Wolfensohn was educated at Wellesley College, where she received her B.A.  She went on to receive her M.A. in French Literature from Columbia and her M.Ed. in counseling psychology from Teachers College.  Mrs. Wolfensohn’s commitment to education also extends into her community advisory work.  For years she chaired the Program Committee of the National Board of Young Audiences.  Currently, she is President of the Board of Directors of the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic.  In addition, she serves on the board of the Davidson Graduate School of Education of the Jewish Theological Seminary and Math for America, as well as the advisory committees of the Park City Mathematics Oversight Board at the Institute of Advanced Study, and Teachers College at Columbia University.  During her husband's presidency of the World Bank, Mrs. Wolfensohn worked closely with the Bank on issues of education, early child development and gender equity.