Our people

WaterAid works in the US to raise awareness about the global water and sanitation crisis and to raise financial support for WaterAid’s international programs.

WaterAid America is governed by a Board of Directors, who are responsible for ensuring that the organization is well managed and abides by its charitable aims.

WaterAid America's CEO

David Winder became WaterAid America's CEO in January 2010.

Dr. Winder’s career has spanned the non-profit, foundation and academic spheres. He started his career in international development as a United Nations volunteer in Chile and then managed graduate programs, taught courses in public administration, social development planning and rural development policy and planning, and conducted research at the University of Manchester's Institute for Development Policy and Management in England.

For over a decade he served the Ford Foundation as Regional Representative for Mexico and Central America and as Regional Representative for Southeast Asia focusing attention on developing new programs in human rights and social justice, maternal and child health and community natural resource management.

WaterAid America's staff

Jim Gutierrez - Director of Finance
Lisa Schechtman - Head of Policy & Advocacy
Hallie Tamez - Associate Director of Development
Annie Bonner - Corporate Relations Manager
Sarah Dobsevage - Institutional Development Manager
Romain Broseus - Institutional Development Officer
Elizabeth Jenkins - Institutional Development Officer
Katherine Frew - Development Operations Officer
Catherine Calvo - Development Associate
Libby Plumb - Senior Communications Advisor
Joélle Azoulay - Designer
Nicaragua country program
Joshua Briemberg - Country Representative
Martha Lorena Omelly Hammer - Administrative Financial Officer Oscar Danilo Laguna - Program Officer

WaterAid America's Board

Chair: Rachel Brydon Jannetta became a WaterAid America Board member in 2003 and assumed the role of Chair for WaterAid in America in September 2011. Rachel is also currently Chair of Test America, the largest environmental testing business in the world, with 46 laboratories and 2700 staff across the USA. Prior to May 2011 Rachel was President & CEO for TestAmerica and predecessor companies for 17 years. A fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants, Rachel qualified as an accountant in 1984 with Gerber Landa and Gee, a Scottish firm of chartered accountants based in Glasgow. She then spent eight years in retail management before joining Severn Trent in 1993 as Managing Director of the UK laboratories business, Severn Trent Laboratories Ltd.

After building Severn Trent’s US testing business (STL Inc) to the position of market leader, Rachel joined the Board of Directors of Severn Trent Plc in September 2004. On December 29, 2006 STL Inc was sold to HIG Capital, a private equity firm based in Miami, Florida. HIG already owned TestAmerica which was the second largest player in the industry. Rachel was asked to lead the merger for the combined testing business. Based near Philadelphia, Rachel travels extensively in the US and overseas.

Myles Druckman, MD became a WaterAid America Board member in 2007. He is vice president of Medical Assistance for International SOS, a provider of medical assistance, international health care, security services, and outsourced customer care. He manages medical services for all Americas-based multinational clients globally, develops and manages international medical programs, and oversees the management of emergency evacuation services and medical assistance worldwide.

Previously, Dr. Druckman was regional medical director for International SOS in North Asia. Based in Beijing, China for five years, he developed and managed four SOS International Clinics, three SOS Alarm Centers and 26 remote site operations. Prior to joining International SOS, he spent five years in Moscow, where he founded the first western medical facilities in the former Soviet Union, in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev. After earning his medical degree, he worked as a physician in private practice at two Canadian clinics, in Toronto and Mississauga.

Desmond FitzGerald began his investment career in 1966 at J. P. Morgan after graduating from Harvard College and serving in the Navy. He co-founded a securities firm in 1974, and subsequently served on the Boards of several banks and mutual funds. He also founded North American Properties Group, a real estate investment firm, in 1986, and continues to serve there as Chairman. In 2005, he co-founded Holyoke Partners, a Fund of Hedge Funds, and serves as a Managing Principal there.

He is a Director of several companies, and has served for many years as a Trustee of the Childrens Aid Society and ORBIS International. In 2005, he established the Hope for Poor Children Foundation, which he serves as President, and in recent years, has become a Trustee of the Aquaya Institute and Helen Keller International, before joining the WaterAid in America Board in March 2011.

John Heller became a WaterAid America Board member in 2012 and is currently a Principal in the Heller Group, a New Jersey based commercial real estate company, and a senior strategy advisor at the Synergos Institute, a global non-profit that builds partnerships to address poverty and social justice issues. Heller has worked in Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America as an enabler of cross-sectoral partnerships to address key human challenges. As a senior staff person with the Synergos Institute, Heller helped to convene such initiatives as The African Public Health Leadership and Systems Innovation Initiative in Namibia, The Aboriginal Multi-Stakeholder Leadership Initiative (Ahp-Cii-Uk) in Western Canada, and the Partnership for Child Nutrition in India. At Synergos he also launched an innovative consulting practice that enables global corporations to build sustainable businesses and achieve social impact in developing countries.

Prior to Synergos, Heller worked with the Council on International Educational Exchange and the Open Society Institute. Early in his career he served as a US Peace Corps Volunteer with the Population and Community Development Association of Thailand. Heller speaks Spanish and Thai and holds degrees from Haverford College and Columbia University.

Roberto Lenton became a WaterAid America Board member in 2007. One of the world’s foremost experts in water management and development, Roberto is the Founding Executive Director of the Robert B Daugherty Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska, where he also holds an appointment as Professor of Biological Systems Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. From 2009 to early 2012, Lenton served as chairperson of the independent World Bank Inspection Panel, a vice presidential-level position within the World Bank organization.

Lenton was a Senior Advisor at the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2001 to 2007 and Director of UNDP’s Sustainable Energy and Environment Division from 1995 to 2000, during which time he helped launch the Global Water Partnership, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the Poverty and Environment Programme. As director general of the International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1994, he oversaw the growth of IWMI from a small project-based organization to a major institute employing more than 300 people in 10 countries. Earlier, he was program officer in the Rural Poverty and Resources program with the Ford Foundation in New Delhi and New York, and an assistant professor at MIT.

A citizen of Argentina, Lenton has a doctorate from MIT and a civil engineering degree from the University of Buenos Aires. He is a co-author of Applied Water Resources Systems, a co-editor of Integrated Water Resources Management in Practice, and a lead author of Health, Dignity and Development: What Will it Take?, the final report of the United Nations Millennium Project Task Force on Water and Sanitation, which he co-chaired.

R Steven Maxwell became a WaterAid America Board member in 2010. Mr. Maxwell has 25 years of experience in the environmental and resource management fields. In 1992 he formed TechKNOWLEDGEy Strategic Group (TSG) to provide consulting and advisory services to the environmental and water resource industries. Mr. Maxwell has also built a leading specialized investment banking practice in the environmental industry, representing various industry players in merger and acquisition transactions.

Prior to founding TSG, he served as Vice President of Marketing for the hazardous waste management company USPCI, Inc.; Manager of Strategic Planning for Union Pacific Corporation; President of ElectroPure Systems – a wastewater treatment venture; and Executive VP and a Director of Recra Environmental, an environmental lab and consulting firm.

Mr. Maxwell is the founder and Editor of The Environmental Benchmarker and Strategist. He is the author of numerous reports and books on the environmental business and is a contributing editor to American Water Works Association Journal, the Environmental Business Journal, Environmental Protection, and the Environmental Lab Washington Report. Mr. Maxwell holds Masters Degrees in Public Policy and in Geology from Harvard University, and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Earlham College. 

Letitia Obeng joined the WaterAid America Board in June, 2012. Dr. Obeng is the Chair of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) (2008 – 2012), and has worked in support of the sustainable management and development of water resources through the GWP’s international network almost 2600 Partners in 13 Regional and 80+ Country Water Partnerships and across 164 countries.

As GWP Chair, Dr. Obeng served as spokesperson for the Partnership, and among other things, provided strategic guidance on the work of the Partnership and Network. Previously, Dr. Obeng spent 25 years at the World Bank where she worked with sector ministries and communities, on policies, strategies, project preparation, implementation and evaluation while partnering with other aid assistance groups and organizations.

Over the years Dr. Obeng has also worked on other sustainable development areas such as water resource management, urban environment, environmental health, growing capacity, waste management, community development and rural development. Dr. Obeng held managerial and director positions in Africa, Middle East and North Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean and, at the Corporate Level as Director, Office of the President. She has a passionate interest in sanitation. A Ghanaian, Dr. Obeng holds a Ph.D. in public health and water resources engineering from Imperial College, University of London.

Marc Robert became a WaterAid America Board member in 2012. He has spent over 25 years in the equity investment industry. Prior to joining Water Asset Management LLC, he was managing director at Morgan Stanley and head of US equity research sales. Mr. Robert managed 95 salespeople globally, selling equity research; capital markets products, prime brokerage services, and equity derivatives to 500 institutional accounts. While at Morgan Stanley, Mr. Robert was a member of the Equity Capital Commitment Committee, North American Equity Management Committee, and the Equity Research Stock Selection Committee. Prior to that, Mr. Robert spent 15 years in Europe (London and Paris) as an institutional salesperson for both US and European equities at Morgan Stanley and PaineWebber. He is also the board chair of St. David’s School, a private boys K-8 school in New York City.

Rosemarie Ryan became a WaterAid America Board member in 2008. In 2010, Rosemarie launched a new agency called Co:, based in New York City. Previously, Rosemarie led JWT as President of its NY headquarters, where her strategic acumen and critical thinking helped launch, position, and reposition numerous leading brands. Under her leadership, JWT NY rose to the number one ranking agency in the JWT global network.

Prior to joining JWT, Rosemarie spent eight years as President of the award-winning agency kirshenbaum bond + partners. Rosemarie began her advertising career at BBDO London and Chiat Day.

Sarah (Sally) Timpson joined the WaterAid America Board in 2012. Formerly with the UNDP, Ms. Timpson is a consultant with over 35 years executive experience in the UN, where she was a leader of UNDP efforts to reorient its policies and programs to focus on people-centered development, environmental sustainability, participation and equity. She held senior policy-making positions at UNDP headquarters, serving, inter alia, as Country Program Division Director in the Regional Bureau for Latin America, Social Development Division in the Bureau for Policy and Program Development, and as Deputy Assistant Administrator of that Bureau.

Ms. Timpson also served in operational functions as manager of UNDP country offices in Philippines, Costa Rica and Argentina. She established and managed a number of new initiatives, including an interregional project PROWWESS (Promotion of the Role of Women in Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Services) and UNDP's first NGO Division, as well as the Partners in Development, Africa 2000 Network and Global Environment Facility Small Grants Program (GEF/SGP), which she headed until January 2003.

Consultancies have included the MacArthur Foundation, Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, Conservation International, Barefoot College, and Pathfinder International/USAID, as well as various UNDP units (Environment and Energy Group, Community Water Initiative, Civil Society Division), as well as with UNIFEM. Ms. Timpson serves as Chair of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Equator Initiative,as member of the Board of Directors of Synergos and PCI Media Impact and of the SEED Prize jury.