Julie Kennedy

Julie Kennedy works with the board of directors to identify promising organizational relationships and grants for AKAGERA Medicines. This will strengthen the capital structure, improve returns to the Rwandan people, and cross-pollinate best practices from other world-class organizations who share the mission to stop tuberculosis, dead in its tracks.  

Julie started her career as an entrepreneur, founding and leading DC SCORES and AMERICA SCORES, a US-based educational non-profit organization that inspires urban youth to lead healthy lives, be engaged students, and have the confidence and character to make a difference in the world.

Her work at AMERICA SCORES earned her a number of local and national awards, including Washingtonian of the Year, in Washington, DC, a Daily Points of Light Award from President Clinton, and a finalist mention for the Presidential National Service Award.

Julie acts as the Chief Operating Officer of Trusty.care, a healthcare and insurance technology company focused on simplifying the most vexing healthcare and insurance decisions. Trusty.care creates precision benefits tools which delivers a benefits picture unique to each person. The Company’s first go-to-market products focus on Medicare, and older Americans aging into the Medicare system for the first time.

Prior to Trusty.care, Julie was founder and CEO of a New York-based strategy and finance advisory firm that worked with high-potential entrepreneurs in frontier markets. 

Previous positions include: Program Director for Pioneers of Prosperity, Central America and the Caribbean, at the OTF Group, overseeing a program that provided financing and technical support to small and medium-sized enterprises across the region; Director of Monitoring and Evaluation for the Millennium Promise Alliance - one of the executing arms of the Millennium Villages Project; and, Director of the Girls’ Education Initiative at Magna International. Julie also held research positions at Harvard and Columbia Universities.

Julie holds a BA in comparative governments from Georgetown University, an MPA from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a Certificate in Program Design, Evaluation and Monitoring of International Projects from the University of Bologna. A native of Canada, Julie speaks French and Spanish.

Alain Ngirinshuti

Legal Counsel for the Rwanda Social Security Board(RSSB)

Alain Ngirinshuti is the Legal Counsel of the Rwanda Social Security Board. He holds a master's degree in business and tax law from Paris 1 Panthéon la Sorbonne University. He specialized in corporate law for 7 years for one of the largest insurance groups in Europe.  Alain is one of the founders of the African Business Lawyers Club (ABLC).  He is the former vice-president of Ibuka France and Secretary General of Ibuka Europe, an association that represents survivors of the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda, which fights for the justice and support for survivors.

Dr. Charles Harper, D.Phil.

Inventor, Former managing director, Templeton FOUNDATIOn

Charles Harper is an inventor who designs technology systems focused in the greentech arena.  His work aims to solve major problems where solutions create a basis for growth of new industry and job sectors that possess attractive win-win characteristics for customers, workers, investors, the environment and the human future.  

His inventions are in energy production, in inland and ocean aquaculture and in two biomedical arenas: rapid-response pandemic prevention and anti-cancer immunotherapy.   

Charles holds a special passion to serve the people of Rwanda and has been a conversation partner with the leaders of Rwanda on developing the large-scale resources of what he calls the “unique occurrence” of Lake Kivu.  

Originally a NASA planetary scientist/astrophysicist following completion of a D. Phil at Oxford University focused in the area of physical cosmology, Charles taught at Harvard for 5 years where he determined cosmological parameters suggestive of an "accelerating universe" two years prior to the definitive discovery of this perspective in 1998. He also developed three novel independent methods for determining planetary and moon formation chronologies.  

From 1996 forward, Charles directed the John Templeton Foundation through 2009.  He worked directly with Sir John Templeton and colleagues, and distributed over USD 500 million in philanthropic awards. He was responsible for more than a hundred new program initiatives across a wide diversity of research fields bridging the physical and human sciences, mathematics, logic, medicine, philosophy and theology.  

These included creating the organization Biologos with Frances Collins, scaling-up the now influential field of Positive Psychology in partnership with its founder Martin Seligman, developing the astonishingly fruitful Evolution & Theology of Cooperation Project at Harvard with Martin Nowak and Sarah Coakley, as well as the groundbreaking international Forgiveness & Reconciliation Research Network with the assistance of Desmond Tutu.  

Charles also created the MIT-based Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi.org) together with the physical cosmologists Max Tegmark and Anthony Aguirre, assisted by dozens of the world's most distinguished physicists including Freeman Dyson, John Archibald Wheeler, and Anton Zeilinger. He organized high-level research conferences all over the world involving distinguished institutions such as the British Academy, The Royal Society, the Ecole Normale Superieure, the Academy of Athens, Peking University, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the University of Vienna, the Jagiellonian University and the US Library of Congress.  In 2008, Charles was recognized with the White House Award for Excellence in Philanthropy

Charles holds degrees and certificates in geological engineering, business management, theology and emergency medical care, and is a pilot and mountain rescue team member.  

He has lived and worked in Thailand, England, Scotland, Poland, Germany, Pakistan, The Bahamas and Rwanda.  He is married with 4 children, one of whom, Becky, lived and worked in Rwanda. He supports the homeless shelter ministry, and teaching Sunday school.

MICHAEL J. KLEEMAN

Senior Fellow at the University of California, San Diego and the National Volunteer Chair for Disaster Cycle Services at the American Red Cross

Michael Kleeman integrates the practice of business strategy with information and healthcare technologies, and focuses them on the public good, especially with vulnerable populations. He chairs the Disaster Cycle Subcouncil of the Scientific Advisory Council of the American Red Cross bringing scientific insights into the service delivery of the Red Cross.  Also I chaired the COVID Steering Committee of the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST.US) overseeing the effort to evaluate key learnings from the pandemic and how best to prepare for the public health and overall health care response to infectious diseases. He is a Senior Fellow at the University of California, San Diego and the National Volunteer Chair for Disaster Cycle Services at the American Red Cross. 

He has worked as a volunteer with the American Red Cross for over 20 years, first as a member on the National Board of Governors, and now the leadership board for the San Francisco Bay Area chapter, overseeing both biomedical services (blood) and disaster response. He also serves as an advisor to the California Health Medical Reserve Corp (CHMRC) and helped design the COVID testing, tracking and reporting system. He worked with Public Health and focused on vulnerable populations.

At UCSD he works with the School of Global Policy/Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation, the medical school (he was an advisor to the new School of Public Health) and the school of engineering. He was a co-lead on KidPrint, a Gates Foundation project that created the first accurate system for infant biometrics and worked for almost a decade on the use of mobile and digital technology in large-scale public health interventions in Africa and South Asia. Formerly a Vice President at The Boston Consulting Group (where he is still a Senior Advisor) and Director at Arthur D. Little, he helped create the system for medical standards for the US Government Office of Workers Compensation Programs and oversaw the Navy’s asbestos program, working with a dozen medical schools and tens of thousands of patients. His graduate work was on chronic illness management with a focus on end-stage renal disease and he studied over 1,000 patients for 4 years post-transplant and he recently advised a major bone marrow transplant registry on future strategy.

He served as an advisor to the Government of Haiti on post disaster reconstruction and to the Government of South Africa on broadband planning. He was the founding CTO of Global Telesystems Group, working in Moscow to create the first public data network under the Soviet Union and then expanding it to a trans-European network and has helped start or restructure over a dozen telecom firms on five continents since the 1980s.

He serves on the Boards of The Institute for the Future, the American Red Cross, and the Sea Ranch Association, and was for 15 years on the Board of the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California. He was a visiting fellow at University of California Berkeley (BRIE) and a fellow of the BIOS Institute, a firm specializing in Complex Adaptive Systems and a Senior Fellow at IMD Business School in Switzerland.  He was also an advisor to the Kent Ridge Digital Labs (KDRL) in Singapore, and served on the founding Advisory Board of Science Foundation Ireland (Forfias, which funded 1B Irish in IT and Biological R&D) and the Chairman of SEACOM, the largest wholesale Internet provider in East Africa.  

SARI MILLER

Angel Investor with Broad Practical EXPERIENCE 

Sari Miller began her career in finance, and focused on mergers and acquisitions. She was Executive Vice President and Partner in a company she helped to sell to AIG, and she was President of a marketing company with 1,000+ employees. 

Since 2007, Sari has focused on angel investing and advising for-profit social impact startups and early stage companies. She built a portfolio, that spanned multiple continents and sectors, which included health, science, medtech, renewables, agriculture, real estate, and fintech. Sari advanced strategy, financial growth, management, governance, and exits for her portfolio companies. 

At LeapFrog Investments, Sari was the first angel investor and General Partner, and serves on its Advisory Board. This 'profit with purpose' private equity fund now manages $2+ billion. Its portfolio companies grow 27% per annum since investment and annually reach 407 million people, 75% of whom live un less than $11/day. She was also a founding angel and advisor in Grassroots Business Fund, a for-profit $49 million fund that blends capital and operational support to grow businesses for low-income people in Africa, Asia and Latin America. 

Sari was the founding investor and member of the Board of Directors of Purpose, a global company that builds movements to advance social good and has reached 1+ billion people. Sari played a key role in negotiating its sale to Capgemini. At Digital Divide Data, she served on the Board of Directors for 10 years. DDD is a global non-profit, which trains and employs 1,000 underserved young adults in Cambodia, Laos and Kenya.

Sari is an investor and advisor to Code Ocean, a startup that tests replicability in computational discoveries. She was a seed investor and consultant to Biotia, Inc., which leverages next generation sequencing-based technology and AI-software to rapidly identify microorganisms and antimicrobial resistance. She helped launch East Africa’s first utility-scale solar field, which increased Rwanda’s power generation by 6% as an advisor to Gigawatt Global. She is also an early investor and advisor to Upward Farms, a vertical farming company that cultivates a complete ecosystem of microbiomes to grow leafy greens and fish.

Sari speaks at the UN, World Bank, Milken Institute, Davos during the World Economic Forum, and at multiple universities. She graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University, and she has an MBA with distinction from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

STEPHEN HANNAN

Founding Partner of Springer Bridge Associates

Steve is the Managing Member and Founder of Springer Bridge Associates, LLC. Mr. Hannan has an extensive track record solving liquidity issues, and developing and negotiating capital and credit solutions for both private equity portfolio and public companies. He has been an advisor to early stage and stressed companies for various groups of stakeholders across a broad range of domestic and foreign industries. Mr. Hannan has a strong and diverse analytical skillset in accounting, corporate finance, credit and fixed income markets that have provided a strong foundation for his roles as both a senior advisor and hands on manager. Mr. Hannan was previously at Evercore Partners serving as a Senior Managing Director of the firm’s Restructuring and Debt Advisory Group.

Prior to joining Evercore, Mr. Hannan served as a Managing Director and Chief Credit Officer of Black Diamond Capital Management, and was a senior credit officer at Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley responsible for approving and managing the firms’ high yield credit exposures. Mr. Hannan began his career as an auditor at Price Waterhouse and later joined JP Morgan as a Global Credit Loan Officer and Interest Rate/FX Derivative Marketer. Mr. Hannan has an M.B.A. in Finance/International Business from Columbia University and a B.S. in Accounting from Fairfield University. He has been a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) since 1984.

Karsten Fuelster

MANAGING DIRECTOR, POLARIS CONSULTING AND INVEST GMBH, GERMANY

In his current position Karsten provides corporate and financial advice to companies wanting to establish or expand their business in the emerging markets and for which they require long-term funding.  

Karsten led international financing teams in the US, East Asia and the Pacific, and the Middle East at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), promoting private sector investments as part of the World Bank Group.

As a development banker he structured over almost 2 decades the funding of Infrastructure and Natural Resources projects in the emerging markets. The sensitivity of social and environmental aspects of Infrastructure, as well as Oil, Gas and Mining projects often located in at times pristine environments require a balanced approach in evaluating investment opportunities by applying the World Bank Performance Standards. Projects must sustainably generate long-term social and environmental as well as developmental benefits to society in addition to the economic benefits of any investment.

Prior to his present position, Karsten led the IFC Office in Frankfurt as Country Manager and Head of Business Development for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland as well as the Visegrad Countries. As Principal Investment Officer for Infrastructure and Natural Resources Karsten had regional responsibilities for Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, while based in Istanbul, Turkey and for East Asia Pacific when he lived in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Joseph Ritchie

Joe passed away of COVID related symptoms early in 2022. We miss Joe’s counsel every day. If Joe believed in you, you felt like you could do anything. We at Akagera Medicines will move ahead as if he were still with us: anticipating his advice, living up to his ethics and compassion, and always asking - what would Joe do?

Joe was the founding Chairman of the Rwandan Development Board (RDB) and the multinational President’s Advisory Council (PAC). He is one of a small number of individuals who is decorated by President Kagame with the National Order of Outstanding Friendship (IJIHANGO) for their outstanding acts to promote friendship and cooperation between Rwanda and other countries.

Born in 1947, Joseph J. Ritchie is currently the President and Founder of Fox River Financial Resources Inc. (FR2) which deals in hedge funds, venture capital funds, direct equity investments, real estate, and proprietary trading strategies. 

Ritchie founded Chicago Research & Trading Group, Ltd. (CRT) in 1977. During the 1980’s, CRT averaged 2.5 billion dollars a day in trades, which accounted for 30–40% of the volume in options market trades worldwide.  CRT was sold to Nations Bank (now Bank of America) in 1993. In 1987 in Russia, Ritchie founded JV Dialog in partnership with the Academy of Sciences, Space Research Institute, Moscow State University, the State Committee on Science and Technology, and Kamaz. JVD is now the oldest U.S. – Russian Joint Venture.  Dialog has spun off 80 companies in 35 cities, employing over 5,000 people. Ritchie also has partnerships with entrepreneurs in Japan to start and grow several service and education businesses

Beyond his businesses internationally, Ritchie has had partnerships with key Afghans in a variety of involvements, from (pre 9/11) challenging the Taliban, to (post 9/11) building grassroots civilian infrastructure (particularly in Eastern Afghanistan) to help grow a cohesive political structure, institute traditional village level governance, and facilitate project to greatly increase agricultural productivity. Ritchie has also spent the last number of years working with political, religious, and private sector leaders of Rwanda and Malawi, and has now branched into several other countries in Africa and Latin America.  

Ritchie’s extra curricular activities include Director of Mission Control for Steve Fossett’s successful circumnavigation of the globe in a balloon, as well as chase pilot, weather analyst, and search and rescue coordinator for earlier flights.  Ritchie also broke Chuck Yeager's trans-continental speed record for turboprop aircraft, and holds numerous other aviation speed records. Ritchie has a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Wheaton College and an LL.D from Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea. For 50 years, he has played a minor partner role with his wife Sharon in raising 10 children.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Ritchie

Mati Amin

Mati offers fresh perspectives on the diffusion of technology in the Majority World.

Mati grew up as an Afghan refugee in Pakistan. He co-founded and runs SOLAx, a platform designed to provide rich educational opportunities for girls in Afghanistan and in refugee camps in Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the Emirates, and Africa.

Mati sold his language learning company to a prominent U.S. publisher. He holds degrees in economics from Williams College, finance from Babson's Graduate School of Business, and education from Harvard University.