Abby Maxman, President & CEO, Oxfam America (she/hers)
Abby Maxman joined Oxfam America as president and CEO in 2017. With more than 30 years of experience in international humanitarian relief and development, she brings a strategic focus on addressing the policies and systems that perpetuate global poverty. Abby has particular experience in gender and power in social change; humanitarian preparedness and response; and organizational development, behavior and culture. Throughout her career she has also focused on prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse within the aid sector, and currently plays an important role within the Oxfam Confederation and among US-based NGOs to improve safeguarding practices.
Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer, CIVICUS (he/his)
Mandeep Tiwana is chief programmes officer and head of New York office at global civil society alliance, CIVICUS. He specialises in legislation relating to the core civil society freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly. Since joining CIVICUS in 2008, Mandeep has engaged in efforts to advance civil society participation in decision making and to protect civil society freedoms globally. He has written extensively on the intersection between civil society, development and international affairs in this capacity. Previously, Mandeep advised the New Delhi Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross. He has also worked with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, and has published a compilation of landmark Indian Supreme Court decisions and National Human Rights Commission guidelines on human rights and policing and has co-authored modules on human rights for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and a citizen's handbook explaining the mandate and practical functioning of human rights commissions in India. Mandeep has also drafted two annual reports for the Punjab State Human Rights Commission and has worked on projects related to good governance and women's empowerment in India.
Dr. Tawanda Mutasah, Vice President for Global Partnerships & Impact, Oxfam America (he/his)
Dr. Tawanda Mutasah is Vice President of Global Partnerships and Impact (GPI), with responsibility for overall strategic and operational leadership of Oxfam America’s GPI division, and for identifying, nurturing, and. maintaining a wide range of strategic partnerships within and outside the Oxfam International confederation on all matters related to programmatic impact and global networks. Tawanda joined Oxfam America in 2021, bringing over 25 years of international nonprofit management and program leadership and innovation in a vast range of areas from humanitarian response to advocacy and long-term development. He was the Senior Director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty International where, among other things, he established and operationalized the global human rights movement’s Sustainable Development Goals engagement and partnerships.
Estiana Colmenares Romero, Executive Director, Voces de Género Venezuela
Venezuelan female leader and expert on women rights, director of the local NGO, “Voces de Género” which represents and supports survivors of gender-based violence. Mrs.Colmenares has been a strategic advisor of several UN clusters in Venezuela. She has also represented Venezuelan civil society at international panels as a speaker on issues of women rights and violations of human rights.
Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis, Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign (she/hers)
The Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis is Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival with the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II. She is the Director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary. She is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and teaches at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.In 2021 she was awarded the 30th Annual Freedom Award by the National Civil Rights Museum, the Hunger Leadership Award from the Congressional Hunger Center, and the Adela Dwyer-St. Thomas of Villanova Peace Award, each along with the Rev. Dr. William Barber II for their work with the Poor People’s Campaign. In 2020 she was named one of 15 Faith Leaders to Watch by the Center for American Progress. In 2019, she was a Selma “Bridge” Award recipient and named one of 11 Women Shaping the Church by Sojourners. In 2018, she gave the “Building a Moral Movement” TEDtalk at TEDWomen, was named one of the Politico 50“thinkers, doers and visionaries whose ideas are driving politics”, and was also named aWomen of Faith Award recipient by the Presbyterian Church (USA). She received her BA in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania; her M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in 2004 where she was the first William Sloane Coffin Scholar; and her PhD from Union in New Testament and Christian Origins.
Alivelu Ramisetty, Director, Gender Justice and Inclusion Hub, Oxfam America (she/hers)
Dr. Alivelu Ramisetty leads Oxfam America’s Gender Justice and Inclusion portfolio and serves on the Global Partnerships and Impact Leadership Team. Working with Oxfam since 2010, Alivelu inspires and collaborates with the leadership teams of Oxfam America to define and implement gender justice and inclusion policies and systems. Alivelu leads and catalyzes Gender Justice and Inclusion work across thematic and functional departments, with Oxfam Country and Regional Leadership within the Oxfam confederation, and builds synergy in gender justice work across long-term development, humanitarian, and advocacy and campaigns. She leads the feminist approach work with colleagues within Oxfam America, as well as across the agency and with partners and allies, to design and deliver Oxfam’s Feminist Principles commitments. Alivelu leads the development of a robust and systematic approach to putting inclusion and gender justice at the heart of all of Oxfam America’s work, through long-term development. Alivelu leads in the sector on topics such as transformational leadership for women’s rights, addressing gender-based violence and Unpaid and Underpaid Care work.
María O. Concepción Díaz, Program Manager, Puerto Rico, Oxfam America (she/hers)
Maria is Oxfam America’s Program Manager for Puerto Rico. She is responsible for the development and implementation of Oxfam’s program strategy, including policy and program design. Maria has over two decades of experience working in the nonprofit sector and with governmental organizations in the United States and the Caribbean, focusing on disaster management, public policy and fiscal transparency and accountability. She supports partners in effective movement building, grassroot support and strategic advocacy to ensure safe, equal and resilient spaces for all genders in Puerto Rico. In academic sectors she has researched the development of scientific institution building, informal science learning and uneven development in vulnerable communities. She enjoys spending time with her family, practicing yoga and walking.
Rebecca Rewald, Program Advisor, Oxfam America (she/hers)
Rebecca Rewald is Program Advisor at Oxfam America (OUS), working on a variety of gender policy issues in both the international and domestic spaces. She supports country offices on gender and agriculture advocacy initiatives as part of the Together Against Poverty (TAP) grant, including by leading research on and developing strategies around gender-responsive budgeting advocacy. She also serves as the unpaid and underpaid care work (UUCW) lead at OUS, and has been focused on federal child care policy advocacy in the US, while overseeing the implementation of the entire OUS UUCW strategy. In addition to research and strategy development, Rebecca’s work involves policy and legislation analysis, engaging with partners and coalitions, and communicating with supporters, legislators, and policymakers on Oxfam America’s gender policy asks and priorities. She’s the author of several research reports, blogs, and Op-Eds.
Mike Helms, Legislative Affairs Lead, Oxfam America (he/his)
Mike joined Oxfam in 2008 and currently serves as Legislative Affairs Lead in the Government Affairs Department. Prior to joining Oxfam, Mike earned his JD from Georgetown University Law Center in 2007.
Margaret Kran-Annexstein, Senior Campaigns Advisor, Oxfam America (she/hers)
Margaret Kran-Annexstein is an organizer, campaign manager, and strategist. In her role as Senior Campaigns Advisor for Oxfam America’s climate work, she leads public campaigns to push for ambitious steps by the US government and companies to cut emissions and make investments to help the most impacted people adapt and build resilience to increasingly extreme weather. Prior to her role at Oxfam America, Margaret was a Campaign Director at Mighty Earth, where she developed advocacy, communications, and field campaigns for Mighty Earth’s forests and oceans program areas to pressure companies to clean up supply chains and advocate for sustainable policy. In this role, Margaret led negotiations with elected officials and corporate executives, coordinated with coalition partners in the US and internationally, and oversaw advocacy initiatives and program staff to advance campaign goals. Margaret also sat on the Executive Committee for the Global Platform on Sustainable Natural Rubber. Margaret started her career at Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing, as a field organizer and then manager. As the organization’s Assistant Organizing Director, Margaret provided training and support to Green Corps organizers, while managing strategic field campaigns on behalf of national partner organizations. While at Green Corps, she supervised campaigns on issues spanning from stopping the overuse of antibiotics in factory farms to protecting wilderness in the U.S. to stopping forest destruction globally.
Chimbala Yoyo, Just Economies Program & Policy Manager, Southern Africa Cluster, Oxfam (she/hers)
A program and policy manager with expertise in policy analysis, livelihood developmental interventions, trade linkages and advocacy in domestic and regional economies across Southern Africa (Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Possess over 15 years' experience in leading and delivering national strategies to build resilience against social, climatic, and economic shocks among vulnerable groups, particularly Women and Youth. Motivated by collective movements and strengthened stakeholder partnerships between Governments, private sector and civil society groups to eliminate social injustice, promote food security, eradicate poverty and reduce economic inequality.
Robbie Silverman, Senior Manager, Private Sector Advocacy, Oxfam America (he/his)
As Senior Manager of Private Sector Advocacy, Robbie Silverman manages a team focused on engaging and challenging for-profit corporations to advance Oxfam’s mission of combating poverty and injustice worldwide.He is currently focused ensuring free and equal access to all Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, implementing Oxfam’s global campaign against inequality, with a focus on stopping corporate tax avoidance, and advancing Oxfam’s Behind the Barcodes campaign challenging America’s largest supermarkets to improve conditions for workers in their global supply chains.
Lia Lindsey, Senior Humanitarian Policy Advisor, Oxfam America (she/hers)
Lia Lindsey is the Senior Humanitarian Policy Advisor for Oxfam America, advocating for an end to inequality in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the hunger crisis in East Africa, and as it relates to Rohingya populations in Bangladesh and Myanmar. Prior to joining Oxfam, she served as a legal advisor with the American Red Cross’ International Humanitarian Law team and engaged in rights-based advocacy with Crisis Action, the American Friends Service Committee, Amnesty International USA and the American Civil Liberties Union. Lia received her B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin and J.D. from New England Law | Boston.
Parvin Ngala, Regional Director, Horn, Central and East Africa, Oxfam
Parvin Ngala is a senior Development and Humanitarian expert with over 20 years’ work experience with the UN and International NGOs. She has managed multi-sector programmes at national and international levels in Africa and Asia in areas covering among others, access to safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene education; food security; environmental management; health systems strengthening; public private partnerships and resilience. She is currently the Regional Director for Oxfam International Horn, East and Central Africa (HECA) region and the Southern Africa (SAF) Cluster where she provides strategic leadership on influencing, advocacy and programme quality. Before joining Oxfam, Parvin worked with development and humanitarian INGOs including CARE, Welthungerhilfe, and World Vision; and UNHCR. Parvin is a Pan Africanist and is passionate about working with communities to develop local innovative solutions that contribute to transformative resilience. She holds a special interest in climate change and her Master’s thesis focused on the impact of climate change on communities in Bangladesh. She enjoys and pursues social justice causes outside of work and is a member of Rotary International. Parvin is a Commonwealth Scholar and holds a M.Sc. in Water and Environmental Management from Loughborough University in the UK. She also holds a Bachelor of Environmental Sciences from Moi University in Kenya.
Ahmed Ibrahim Abdi, Chief Executive Officer, Arid Lands Development Focus (ALDEF), Convener ASAL Humanitarian Network (AHN) for Local and National agencies in Kenya
Ahmed is a passionate local and global champion of the localisation agenda, devolved climate finance and advocate of a systems approach to predictable shock responsive social protection to enable resiliency of disaster affected communities. He has held Senior positions with INGOs and has himself now localized to walk the talk to lead a local NGO. He has over 30 years of experience in humanitarian, governance and development sectors. Ahmed managed large scale 2004/5 Tsunami, 2006/7 Drought/conflict IDPs responses and 2011 famine crisis in the Horn of Africa. The ASAL Network an advocacy platform for localisation, amplified community voices and an effective aid system has responded through no regret model with support from Oxfam since 2019 and scale up to drought, flood and locust emergencies over the last 3 years in partnership with ECHO funded Kenya Cash Consortium (ACTED, Oxfam, Concern and REACH).
Ash Kosiewicz, Senior Writer-Editor, Content Strategy & Development, Oxfam America (he/his)
Ash Kosiewicz is a Senior Writer-Editor at Oxfam America. From the Andean mountains of Peru to the savannahs of Mozambique, from the Texas-Mexico border to the District of Columbia, he has brought to life stories of immigrants, activists, farmers, and small business owners using podcasts, video, and long-form narrative to inspire change. His mantra: Be curious, patient and persistent. Great stories go beyond the surface, and great storytelling expands what we experience while showing us a way back to ourselves.
