The Research Leadership Team
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Warren Lancaster
International Director
Prior to joining Geneva Global, Warren Lancaster served as director for England and Wales for The Leprosy Mission International, based in Brentford, United Kingdom. He was previously chief executive officer of London, U.K.-based Merlin, which provides healthcare and medical relief to victims of disaster and conflict worldwide. Warren was instrumental in the development of the humanitarian agency Medair, based near Lausanne, Switzerland, where he served as an executive director. He also worked with the London-based British Red Cross to explore improving nongovernmental organizations’ accountability by creating an ombudsman for humanitarian assistance, a project sponsored by 22 leading U.K. relief and development agencies. Warren holds a master’s degree in international humanitarian and development practice from Oxford, U.K.-based Oxford Brookes University. He has a business background in risk management within the insurance industry.
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Dr. Saji John
Regional Director, Asia
Before joining Geneva Global in 2006, Saji John served since 1999 as national administrator of Operation Mobilization India (OM India), based in Hyderabad. He also acted as national director of OM India’s 50 Good Shepherd schools, which educate children of India’s Dalit group, also called “untouchables,” and empower their communities economically. Saji joined the organization in 1983, becoming managing director of OM Books in 1989. Under his leadership, OM Books grew from a single bookshop in Mumbai to Asia’s largest distributor of Christian books. He holds a master’s degree in leadership and management from Briercrest College and Seminary, Caronport, Canada, and a doctorate in missions from the International Institute of Church Management, Chennai (Madras), India.
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Kirsten Kennedy
Regional Director, Southern and East Africa
Kirsten Kennedy has 20 years of experience in development in Southern Africa. Before joining Geneva Global, she spent five years in market-led private sector development, working for Woodmead, South Africa-based ECIAfrica Consulting, a member of the DAI global group of companies focused on economic development in Southern Africa. Her primary role was to manage complex multinational projects for clients such as the Brussels, Belgium-based European Union; the Gaborone, Botswana-based Southern African Development Community; the U.N. Capital Development Fund, the Washington, D.C.-based Millennium Challenge Corporation and national governments in Southern Africa. Kirsten previously lived and worked in Mozambique and Botswana as a management consultant for Johannesburg, South Africa-based Gemini Consulting. Earlier, she launched and managed a university-based unit providing business development services to small and medium-sized enterprises, and built networks with government agencies, international universities and private-sector organizations. Kirsten also spent eight years working with a South African nongovernmental organization developing microenterprises, managing the technical and business skills training division and designing a national program to train business trainers.
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Jacques K. Birugurugu
Regional Director, Central and West Africa
Jacques K. Birugurugu was born in Cihagarhi, Congo. He holds a master’s degree in applied linguistics, with a focus on teaching English to speakers of other languages, from the teachers’ college Institut Superieur Pedagogique in Bukavu, Congo; a bachelor’s degree in development from the Brussels, Belgium-based university Fondation Universitaire Mercure and certificates in supply chain management from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, Asheville, N.C. Since 1996, he has worked for humanitarian and development agencies including the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the Bangkok, Thailand-based Food for the Hungry International. Most recently, he worked in Afghanistan for Grand Junction, Colo.-based Joint Development Associates International and in Zimbabwe for Monrovia, Calif.-based World Vision International. Jacques has also worked in Congo, Indonesia and Tanzania. His main focus has been food security and community development. He speaks Kiswahili, Lingala, French and English.
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Ligia Merizalde
Regional Director, Latin America and the Caribbean
Born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Ligia Merizalde holds a master’s degree in law with a specialization in human rights from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador) in Quito. She has 10 years of experience in social development with government institutions and nongovernmental organizations. For two years, she led efforts against child abuse by the Ecuadorian government’s Instituto Nacional de la Ninez y la Familia (National Institute of the Child and the Family) in Quito. She also helped develop national social legislation, including a 1996 law creating an ombudsman to help protect individual rights. She helped coordinate Ecuador’s first projects to counter human trafficking, and helped create laws against sexual exploitation for Santo Domingo de los Colorados county as a member of the Quito-based Defensa de los Ninos Internacional (Defense for Children International). Ligia joined Geneva Global in August 2005 as a research analyst, and helped monitor anti-trafficking projects implemented in Ecuador in cooperation with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She became country coordinator for Ecuador and took her current position in December 2006.
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Adrienne Wampole
Head of Sectors
Before joining Geneva Global in 2003, Adrienne Wampole held analyst positions at Columbia Financial Advisors in Portland, Ore., and Capstone Advisors in Fort Wayne, Ind. Her international development experience includes work with organizations in Kenya, Kosovo and Uganda. Since joining Geneva Global, Adrienne has acted as the regional director of the Eurasia research team and as a senior consultant for Geneva Global’s organizational strategy working groups and external consultancy offerings. Adrienne earned her master’s degree in international economic development at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa., and an undergraduate degree in accounting and business systems at Taylor University in Upland, Ind.