Directors

Kara Adamon - Director of Strategy

Kara holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Maryland and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, where she completed her MBA in 2007. Before joining Counterpart, Kara worked as a strategy consultant at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), primarily focused on healthcare. At BCG, Kara cultivated her interest in global development issues by working on several global health projects including developing malaria and broader child health strategies for a major global health foundation. A native of Benin, Kara grew up in Ivory Coast and has also lived in Spain, Switzerland and the U.S.  She is fluent in French and trying not to forget her Spanish.

 

Teresita Alberastine - Director of Internal Audit
Tess, as she is known to her friends and colleagues, joined Counterpart in September 2007 as the Chief Financial Officer, and currently is the Director of the Office of Internal Audit. Prior to joining Counterpart, Tess worked for USAID for 26 years, serving in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, in the areas of budgeting, accounting, auditing and financial management. Before USAID, Tess was a Senior Financial Officer of a private lending company, a college instructor and a practicing Certified Public Accountant in the Philippines. At Counterpart, Tess utilizes her skills in teaching, accounting, auditing and financial management to provide professional leadership in the areas of financial administration, budget development, short and long-range financial plans and private and government contracts/grants administration. With her new title, Tess is helping Counterpart accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes.

 

Brian Chang - Manager, Office of the President

 

 

Jason Edelen - Director of Information Technology
Jason has over a dozen years in the technology field, with expertise in supporting and implementing Microsoft technologies. Jason joined Counterpart ten years ago and has been leading the IT Department for the past 4 years in his role as Director. Prior to joining Counterpart, Jason worked in the Network Services group with Giant Food in the Information Systems Department. Jason is a graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in Computer and Information Technology and is a Certified Microsoft Professional.

 

Jennifer Grizzard Ekzarkhov - Director of Communications

Jennifer directs all aspects of communications for the organization and leads efforts to identify, create and implement communications and marketing strategy and messaging that will enhance mission awareness and revenue. Prior to working for Counterpart, she created and implemented marketing and communications strategy for Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and programs in Asia, the Caribbean, Meso-America and the Pacific at The Nature Conservancy. She received her BA in English and BS in Interior Design from Virginia Tech and her MA in Creative Writing from Bretton Hall College (UK).

 

Christine Hicks - Division Manager, Tourism & Conservation

Christine provides direction and oversight to the Tourism and Conservation department's portfolio of economic development and natural resource management programs in the Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Christine has extensive experience working with both national and international audiences on collaborative stakeholder planning, participatory processes, public-private partnerships and organizational models, marine and terrestrial ecosystem management and developing capacity for sustainable livelihoods at local and national levels. Christine's experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer, coupled with a Masters Degree in Sustainable Destination Management from George Washington University and 10 years of experience in international development has prepared her for comprehensive and integrated development programs around the world.

 

Rang Hee Kim - Senior Director, CHAP
Rang Hee Kim has more than 9 years professional experience in international development. As a Senior Director of the Community and Humanitarian Assistance Programs (CHAP), she plans, organizes and manages the implementation of the division's humanitarian assistance programs. Ms. Kim has demonstrated mastery of complex programmatic and logistical challenges, specializing in program operations and international logistics. She possesses extensive knowledge of the US Department of State, USAID and other US government agencies' regulations and guidelines pertaining to the logistics and transport of relief goods. Ms. Kim has managed the logistics for humanitarian assistance shipments worldwide valued at more than $566 million.

 

 
Country Directors/Chiefs of Party
 
Timothy Baker - Chief of Party, Afghanistan

 

 

Michael Kunz - Chief of Party, Azerbaijan

 

 

Victor Pinga - Chief of Party, Vietnam
Victor has been involved with NGOs since his college days, and after completing his graduate studies in Agricultural Economics he was sent to West Africa on a fellowship where he worked on a new food security initiative in northern Ghana. He considers himself a student of development, never failing to find new and exciting ways to work in his chosen field, but always preferring to be rooted on the ground. He has worked in both field and headquarters positions joining Counterpart in 2003 when he was posted to Vietnam. He has been living there ever since with his wife and 2 young children, enjoying pho for breakfast and deriving satisfaction from low-key high-impact development work that has transformed lives, one family at a time.

 

Josephine Trenchard - Regional Coordinator/Chief of Party, Senegal

 

 

Reem Ersheid - Civic Education Director, Afghanistan -STEP

 

 

Moustapha Gaye - Chief Of Party, Mauritania
With over 20 years experience in agricultural research, development and food assistance programs, Moustapha Gaye joined Counterpart in September 2007 as Country Director for Mauritania.
 
Prior to joining CPI, Moustapha was a Food Aid Specialist for the West Africa Food For Peace (FFP) Regional Office from February 2005 to August 2007 where he was responsible for food aid management and monitoring. His primary duties included: food needs assessments, policy and technical guidance for the design, monitoring, implementation and evaluation of PL 480 Title II development and emergency programs within West Africa. He also provided technical assistance to FFP's Cooperating Sponsors and to the World Food Program (WFP).
 
From 1991 to January 2005 Moustapha Gaye was a research assistant working for the West Africa Rice Development Assistant, part of the CGIAR Centers. He successively worked in the Economics Program and the Rice Policy and Development Program divisions.
 
Moustapha holds a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from New Mexico State University and a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Dakar. He is fluent in French, English and Wolof and has worked in Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal and Benin. Moustapha has a wealth of professional contacts in Africa and throughout the world.

Peter Harris - Chief Of Party, Kazakhstan

Before working with Counterpart's Dialogue Initiative project in Kazakhstan, Peter Harris was Chief of Party of a rights and justice program in Cambodia and a civil society program in Indonesia. Earlier, he was founding director of the Asia 2000 Foundation of New Zealand and represented the Ford Foundation in China.

Moustapha Niang - Country Representative, Niger
Moustapha Niang joined Counterpart in 2009 as Country Representative in Niger. With 19 years of experience under his belt, Moustapha specializes in environment and natural resource management.

 

In 1990, Moustapha was National Coordinator in Senegal for Biological Nitrogen fixation/Legumes management, a University of Hawaii project funded by USAID. Later, he joined the United Nations system where he assumed several critical assignments, first with the UNESCO's Man & Biosphere program and then with the World Heritage Center. His activities comprised project identification and elaboration, training of national senior staff in the UNESCO member States of Benin, Cameroon, Cape-Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

 

Later, Moustapha joined Africare in Senegal, as Deputy Coordinator for KAED Project funded by USAID. And from 1998-2006, he worked for Africare as the Economic Development Advisor in Mali, the Administrative & Monetization Officer in Burkina Faso, the Country Representative in Chad and Country Representative in Niger.

Desire Yameogo - Country Director, Cameroon

Before joining Counterpart in 2008, Desire worked in Burkina Faso for Plan International, managing projects in education, potable water, health, natural resources management, support to farmers' organizations and micro-enterprise development. He joined later Catholic Relief Services (CRS) where he worked as the Head of Education Department managing one of CRS's largest programs which reaches nearly 300,000 direct beneficiaries. He was later promoted to Food for Education Program Coordinator in Mali.

Desire, a Burkina national, grew up primarily in Ouagadougou. He earned a Master's Degree in Economy and Development from University of Ouagadougou. He lives with his wife and their three children in Bamenda.

Mario del Cid - Project Director, Guatemala
Mario Del Cid is Counterpart's director in Guatemala. Mario has 9 years of experience in project design, management and implementation, with a special focus on sustainable tourism and community development. Mario joined Counterpart in 2003 as Tourism Coordinator for the USAID funded "Maya-Q'eqchi' community development" and "Community Tourism and Forest Gardens for Alta Verapaz and Petén" projects, implemented between 2003 and 2006. In 2006 he became the USAID Guatemala Community Tourism Alliance project Director, coordinating technical assistance for hundreds of small businesses and rural communities all over the country. In 2008 and 2009 he also directed a project funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund in Guatemala and Belize, which aims to integrate biodiversity conservation into tourism policy. 

 

Mario holds a bachelor degree on Ecotourism by Universidad del Valle de Guatemala and is currently working on a Masters in Strategic Direction through the Universidad de León, Spain.

Yazgylych Charyev - Country Director, Turkmenistan
Mr. Charyyev has ten years of relevant and progressively responsible international development management work experience. In Turkmenistan, he worked as the Country Director for Counterpart International and managed its USAID funded projects including, Civil Society Support Initiative (CSSI), Mother and Child Health (MCH), Health NGO Capacity Building Initiative (HNCBI) Program and managed 50 staff and contract trainers. He most recently served as the Regional Manager for Counterpart International's Civil Society Project (CSP) in Azerbaijan and as a Country Director for Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia, Dushanbe office.

In the ten years working with development programs, Yazgylych has acquired skills in designing, starting up, managing, evaluating and closing down USAID-funded projects Central Asia and Caucasus. Specific responsibilities included designing work and performance plans, ensuring project cost effectiveness and compliance, hiring and managing staff, liaising with donor and partner organizations, reporting on project performance and modifying programs based on evaluation. He has an acute awareness of international development and democracy and governance issues as they relate to transitional countries.

Irakli Saralidze - Country Director, Georgia