Our people

If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it.
Peter Singer, Australian moral philosopher and professor at Princeton University

Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors provides the oversight, accountability, wisdom, guidance, and networking that any non-profit, service-focused organization needs to be successful, sustainable, effective, and respected. Our Board is comprised of distinguished leaders in both international relief and development, and in development ethics, as described below:

Chloe Schwenke
Chair

Dr. Chloe Schwenke is an international development ethicist, practitioner, human rights activist, researcher, and educator. Her career has focused on gender equality & social inclusion (GESI), LGBTQ+, governance, peacebuilding, and human rights. In addition to her wide range of policy, programming, research, and advocacy work on LGBTQ+ issues, her GESI experience includes policy, project, and research work on GBV, child marriage, male engagement, and women’s role in peacebuilding. Her experience in conflict mitigation and peacebuilding includes conflict vulnerability analyses, peacebuilding programming and evaluation, and community-driven/participatory development in post-conflict settings (Somalia, South Sudan, Gaza Strip).

Chloe’s career covers project experience in over 40 countries. She served as a political appointee at USAID under the Obama Administration, as Senior Advisor on democracy, human rights, and governance in sub-Saharan Africa, and on LGBTQ+ issues globally. Later she was VP for Global Programs at Freedom House, and then she did a one-year grant at ICRW to direct research on social inclusion, GBV, male engagement, and child marriage. She currently serves as an adjunct professor at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland at College Park.

Stacy Kosko, a smiling brunette in an orange top

Stacy Kosko
Vice Chair

Dr. Stacy J. Kosko is Associate Research Professor, and Associate Director of the Minor in International Development and Conflict Management (MIDCM), in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland. Her research and consulting work focuses on development ethics, human rights, and marginalized populations. She spent the 2017-2018 academic year as a Fulbright Scholar in Moldova. With Lori Keleher, she is the editor of Agency and Democracy in Development Ethics (Cambridge 2019). She is a fellow and officer of the Human Development and Capability Association and on the executive board of the International Development Ethics Association. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and development from the University of Maryland and an MS in Foreign Service and international conflict management from Georgetown University, with a certificate in Refugee and Humanitarian Emergencies.

Charlie Bell smiling in a suit with no tie

Charlie Bell
Treasurer

Charlie Bell is a Senior Vice President for WSP US, and he is responsible for its Overseas Integrated Development practice. In this capacity, he manages economic and institutional development reforms related to economic growth, governance, community development, and planning programs in transitional economies around the world. He has worked in more than 40 countries in all regions of the world with a variety of funding clients: USAID, DFID, DFAT, JICA, World Bank, private sector, and regional development banks. His results-oriented management approach has promoted sustainable livelihoods, gender and social inclusion, and economic development (e.g. more than $1.5 billion in microfinance loans, more than $1 billion in new sales, and over 840,000 new jobs). He has also been active in development sectors that include governance, local capacity building and workforce development; and new/rehabilitated critical infrastructure in fragile states (e.g. schools, health clinics, tertiary roads). Charlie currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University.

Charles Cadwell
Secretary

Charles (Chas) Cadwell has worked in international development for 30 years and is currently an Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. For 12 years he led the Urban Institute’s Center on International Development and Governance. The Urban Institute’s focus in developing countries is targeted at urban service delivery, governance of public goods, aid effectiveness, and political economy. Chas joined the Urban Institute following 16 years of prior service as the Director of the University of Maryland’s IRIS Center, based in the Department of Economics. His recent work also includes research on economic growth’s effects on women’s empowerment, studies of social networks in refugee settings, and assessments of urban resilience efforts. Chas has taught decentralization and service delivery at the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs.

Chas has a law degree from George Washington University and a BA from Yale College. He has worked in the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, the Office of Advocacy at the U.S. Small Business Administration, in private law practice, and in private business.

Luis Camacho

Dr. Luis Camacho currently serves as the president of the Costa Rican Philosophy Association, and he was a co-founder of the International Development Ethics Association (IDEA). He is an Emeritus Professor at the School of Philosophy at the University of Costa Rica, and he was formerly the Dean of Graduate Studies and Vice-President for Academic Affairs at the same University. Luis is also a member of the boards of the Iberoamerican Leibniz Society and of the Interamerican Philosophy Association.

Luis holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the Central University of Madrid, Spain, and a Ph.D. from the Catholic University of America, in Washington D.C. He has been a visiting professor at the National University of Honduras, the Iliff School at Denver University, at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, and at Michigan State University. Among his publications, he is the author of Filosofía para la Educación Diversificada, Introducción a la lógica, Lógica Simbólica Básica, Ensayo sobre la Mediocridad, Ciencia y tecnología en el subdesarrollo, Tecnología para el Desarrollo Humano, Lectura inteligente, La ciencia en su historia and articles in the Encyclopedia of Life Supporting Systems (París: UNESCO, 2005).

David Crocker

David A. Crocker is Professor Emeritus at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, USA. He specializes in sociopolitical philosophy, international development ethics, transitional justice, democracy and democratization, and the ethics of consumption. After three degrees from Yale University (MDiv, MA, and PhD), David taught philosophy for 25 years at Colorado State University, where he established one of the world's first courses in ethics and international development. He was a visiting professor at the University of Munich, was twice a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Costa Rica, held the UNESCO Chair in Development at the University of Valencia (Spain), and taught at the National Autonomous University of Honduras, the University of Chile, and the University of the Andes (Colombia). He has been a consultant with the Inter-American Development Bank, USAID, the World Bank, and the International Center for Transitional Justice. David was also the founder and former president of the International Development Ethics Association (IDEA).

a blonde man in a black vest smiles at the camera

Dana Hovig

Dana Hovig served as the Director of the Gender Equity and Governance program (the largest grantmaking team in the foundation) at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation from August 2019 to October 2022. Previously, Dana worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he launched and subsequently led the Integrated Delivery team, one of the largest teams at the Gates Foundation. That team focuses on strengthening health systems and health financing; launching, delivering, and scaling new health products, services, and interventions; and identifying synergies to improve outcomes across the foundation’s health programs. Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, Dana spent nearly seven years as CEO of Marie Stopes International, based in London, England. Dana led the work of more than 8,500 international staff with offices and operations in 40 countries. Marie Stopes International delivers life-saving and life-changing reproductive health, HIV/AIDS prevention, family and maternal health, and primary health care services. Dana joined Marie Stopes International after more than a decade in leadership positions with Population Services International.

Dana has spent nearly 10 years living and working in Pakistan and Francophone West Africa, including with the Peace Corps in Togo (2 years) and in Northern Mali (3 years). He holds a master’s of science in international political economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a bachelor’s of arts degree in economics from the University of Notre Dame. He speaks French and some Spanish, and currently resides in Portugal.

Pauline Muchina

Dr. Pauline Muchina, originally from Rift Valley Province in Kenya, came to the U.S. for studies that culminated in a Ph.D. in 2000. Now based in Washington, DC, she currently serves as the Policy, Education, and Advocacy Coordinator for Africa at the American Friends Service Committee, as well as chairing the COVID-19 Working Group at the Advocacy Network for Africa. Earlier in her career, she served for over seven years as the Senior Partnership Advisor for UNAIDS. She also serves on several boards and advisory groups including the Global Room for Women; Jubilee USA; and the Center for Health and Hope. Pauline is the founder of Future African Leaders’ Project, designed to support promising African youth who face serious challenges in getting an education and maintaining their health. In 2011, Pauline received the United Methodist Church Global Leadership Award. In 2014, the Huffington Post honored Pauline as one of 50 women powerful international religious leaders. She holds a master’s degree from the Yale University Divinity School and a Ph.D. from the Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

Vic Stanski, a smiling woman with tortoise shell glasses and curly light colored hair

Victoria Stanski

Over the past 20 years, Victoria Stanski has designed and implemented peace building and
humanitarian programming in conflict-affected countries, including Syria, Lebanon, Turkey,
Yemen, Egypt, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In these country offices, she served in senior
management roles with international organizations including Mercy Corps, International Rescue
Committee, Danish Refugee Council, and others to expand their funding portfolio to scale
humanitarian response. A central pillar of her work was facilitating collaboration across multi-
sectoral, multi-functional, and multi-cultural teams to identify and achieve common goals. Victoria currently serves as Humanitarian Strategy Lead with Save the Children International to facilitate organizational change management to achieve global humanitarian ambitions. Victoria studied Cultural Anthropology and African Studies at Smith College in Northampton, MA and International Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution at American University in Washington, DC.

Senior Advisory Council

The Senior Advisory Council provides regular support, guidance, technical insights, best practices, and inspiration to the staff of the Center. As with the Board, the Council is also comprised of an intentional blend of prominent development ethicists and philosophers, a graduate student in international development studies, and several highly experienced international relief and development practitioners, as described below:

A man in the suit stands in front of a building

Alexandre Apsan Frediani

Dr Alexandre Apsan Frediani is a principal researcher at the Human Settlements Group of the International Institute for Environment and Development, in London (UK). Alexandre leads the housing justice thematic work of IIED and he specializes in issues around human development in cities of the Global South. Alexandre’s work explores participatory approaches to planning and design of interventions in informal settlements in cities in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. He has also been conducting research and development projects focusing on the role of knowledge production and translation in advancing a more socially and environmentally just urban development. In his most recent research initiatives, Alexandre is a co-investigator for the research projects Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality and Transforming Universities for a Changing Climate. Alexandre is an expert affiliate of Architecture Sans Frontières-UK, and he is part of the boards of Habitat International Coalition and the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre.

Bobby Herman

Dr. Robert (Bobby) Herman joined Management Systems International as Senior Vice President for Programs in late 2018 after more than a dozen years in a similar capacity at Freedom House. He oversees a portfolio that includes democracy, human rights, and governance; accountability and transparency; peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and countering violent extremism; and gender and inclusion. He served in the Clinton Administration, first at USAID focused on political transition in Central/Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and later on the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, where he worked as an adviser to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on democracy and human rights globally. Bobby also held positions with the Open Society Foundation, the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and as a congressional staff member. He has been directly involved in a wide array of projects in more than 50 countries.

He received his Ph.D. in Government with a concentration in international relations from Cornell University, a Masters’ in Public Affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, and his BA with Honors at Swarthmore College.

Su-ming Khoo

Dr. Khoo is Senior Lecturer and Director of Ph.D. Studies at the School of Political Science and Sociology, and she is Chair of the Socio-Economic Impact Research Cluster at the Ryan Institute and Environment, Development and Sustainability Research Cluster, Whitaker Institute, at the National University of Ireland in Galway. She writes, researches, and teaches on human rights, human development, development alternatives, public goods, decoloniality, global activism, and higher education. Her research and teaching promote knowledge and enquiry concerning different meanings of globalization and development and the contestation of those meanings, especially along North/South lines. Dr. Khoo teaches development theory and political economy of development, with an emphasis on alternative, ethical approaches including human development, human rights, and sustainable development. She has a particular interest in bridging the fields of human rights, sustainable development, higher education, and participation.

Jess Ogden

Dr. Jessica Ogden currently serves as the Director of External Relations at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). In this role, she oversees the business development team, and communications and fundraising professionals, to build strong stakeholder relationships and visibility across ICRW and its community. Jessica has been working as a social anthropologist in international development for over 25 years. She has published widely in the scholarly press and contributed to edited volumes on AIDS, public health ethics, and on gender and tuberculosis. She has a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Hull in the UK.

From 2008–2014, Jess operated her own consultancy firm, conducting research and analysis, as well as writing on gender and global public health. From May 2002 to early 2008, she worked at ICRW as a Senior Technical Specialist in the HIV/AIDS and Development Unit, and as the Senior Technical Adviser to the President. During that period, she led research on a range of topics, including HIV-related stigma, HIV prevention policy and gender. Between 1995 and 2001, she was on the staff of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, where she served as Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer, in Social Anthropology.

Sanja Pesek

Sanja Pesek is an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Justice, Law and Criminology at American University in Washington, D.C., where she teaches courses on Morality, Violence, (Transitional) Justice, and the Law. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Central European University (CEU). She has also taught on Transitional Justice at Georgetown University and at the CEU. She has over ten years of experience in strengthening democratic governance in transitional contexts and has published on political reconciliation examining anti-corruption efforts, transitional justice mechanisms and atrocity prevention. She worked for ten years at Freedom House (FH) in various capacities. During her tenure, she was a regular contributor to FH publications including Nations in Transit, Freedom of the Press, and Freedom in the World. She has also co-organized two global conferences (Berlin and Istanbul) on anti-corruption and transitional justice. She is currently finalizing a book manuscript titled “Justice After Mass Atrocity: From Denial to Responsibility.”

Byaruhanga Rukooko Archangel

Born in the west of Uganda, Prof. Rukooko earned his Master’s degree in philosophy at the University of Nairobi in Kenya, and his doctorate in philosophy at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. He has taught philosophy at Makerere University since 1989 to date, where he now serves as a Professor. Previously, Prof. Rukooko was Deputy Dean and then Dean in the Faculty of Arts until 2014, and founder of the Makerere Centre for Applied Ethics. He co-authored a book titled Cultures at Crossroads: Homosexuality and Human rights in Uganda (Kampala, 2017), and is currently at work on another book titled The Passion to Legislate against Homosexuals in Uganda. Prof. Rukooko has been a member of the International Development Ethics Association (IDEA) since 2006 when he co-convened the 7th IDEA Conference, which was held at Makerere University on the topic of Accountability, Responsibility and Integrity: The Ethical Challenges of Development to Sub-Saharan Africa and Beyond.

Mario Solís

Mario Solis is Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in Philosophy at the University of Costa Rica (UCR) where he currently teaches moral and political philosophy. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Essex, UK, and has served as a visiting researcher at the Uppsala University, Sweden, and a Visiting Research Associate at UCL, London, UK. His interests include global justice, human rights, and moral and political philosophy. He has published several articles on issues of justice, equality, and development ethics (including the entry on Latin America in the Routledge Handbook of Development Ethics, 2019). He is a member of the International Development Ethics Association (IDEA) and currently serves as a member of its executive board. He is also part of the Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, UCR (the Research Committee), as well as the Asociación Latinoamerican de Filosofía Analítica (ALFAn) and the UK-Latin America Network for Political Philosophy (UKLANPP).

Joe Walsh

Joe Walsh has worked in international development for 5 years, focusing on stabilization, conflict resolution, and cultural exchange programming. He began his career as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Prizren, Kosovo, where he taught English and managed youth development programming. Since then, Joe has worked with the Society for International Development-Washington, FHI 360, DT Global (formerly Development Transformations), and IREX on a variety of projects and business development initiatives, which have included assignments in Mauritania, Kenya, North Macedonia, and Sudan. He is invested in ensuring aid projects are implemented in culturally appropriate ways, in accordance with ethical standards, and with do no harm and conflict sensitivity principles at the forefront. Joe is a current Master of Law and Diplomacy (MALD) student at the Fletcher School at Tufts University studying international development, conflict negotiation, and humanitarian studies.

Senior Staff

Chloe Schwenke
President

Anna Malavisi
Vice President

Dr. Anna Malavisi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy & Humanistic Studies at Western Connecticut State University. She has a PhD in philosophy from Michigan State University. Her dissertation, Global development and its discontents: rethinking the theory and practice is a critical analysis of global development from an ethical and feminist epistemology perspective. Her interests include: practical and global ethics, feminist philosophy/epistemology, social and political thought, environmental philosophy, and peace and justice issues. She has a Master of Health and International Development and has worked for 16 years in Latin America in the NGO sector in areas of development management and practice. She is currently the secretary of the International Development Ethics Association (IDEA).

Senior Advisors

A man with white hair and black glasses in front of a doorway

Tom Hilde
Senior Advisor for Environmental Ethics

Dr. Tom Hilde is a research professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, director of Indonesia and Peru programs, and senior affiliate at the Center for Global Sustainability (CGS) and the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM). Hilde has a Ph.D. in philosophy (Penn State University). He teaches courses in sustainable development, environmental and climate ethics and political theory, and international environmental agreements. He directs field courses and researches adaptive social-ecological systems and land use change in Indonesia; and, in the Peruvian Amazon and Andes, resource conflict, environmental migration, and local community impact. His work has focused on international development and environmental policy and ethics, sustainable development, democracy and local knowledge, climate change, and agriculture and food security, and involves multi-track diplomacy on accelerating emissions reductions. He directed the Environmental Conservation Education Program and the Applied Philosophy Group at New York University before moving to UMD. He has worked with the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Center for American Progress, the World Bank, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry and National Development Planning Agency, and the city of Jakarta. He has been a Fulbright scholar in Venezuela and Edmond J. Safra Network Fellow at Harvard University.

Krushil Watane in glasses and a dark orange cardigan in front of books

Krushil Watene
Senior Advisor on Indigenous Peoples

Dr. Watene is Assoc. Prof. in the School of Humanities, Media and Creative Communication at Massey University, University of New Zealand. She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Her research addresses fundamental questions in moral and political philosophy, particularly those related to well-being, development, and justice. Dr. Watene’s primary areas of expertise include mainstream theories of well-being and justice, obligations to future generations, and Indigenous Philosophies. Much of her work is written from the perspective of the 'capability approach' - improving people's lives by expanding their real opportunities to live the kinds of lives they value and have reason to value - and she centers Māori Philosophy. Prof. Watene's work is applied and engaged - encompassing a range of justice and ethical issues, in such areas as health policy, environmental sustainability, and a variety of development considerations, as they feature within communities. Her research contributes to high-level discussions of indigenous concepts in global justice theorizing, grounded in research that demonstrates the central role of local indigenous communities. She was awarded a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship in 2018 for research on intergenerational justice.

photo of a Phil Crehan, a white man with brown hair in a black suit

Phil Crehan
Senior Advisor for Inclusive Development

Phil Crehan focuses exclusively on the human rights and socio-economic empowerment of excluded groups, especially LGBTQI+ people as well as issues surrounding gender, disability, migration, and food security. He now works as a Principal Investigator of mixed-methods research across 12 countries in the Caribbean on LGBTQI+ socio-economic exclusion and has generated the largest dataset on these issues in the region. He has also been at the forefront of articulating international LGBTQI+ issues as a matter of economic development and poverty alleviation, being part of the first-ever research that measured the economic “cost” of excluding LGBTQI+ people. He has worked for the World Bank in Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia, and was awarded by the World Bank's President, Vice President, and Senior Directors. Phil has also collaborated with various institutions, including the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, UNDP, and the OAS, and he has written for the Center for American Progress, the World Economic Forum, the Journal of Research in Gender Studies, the Atlantic Council, and Slate.

Lori Keleher
Senior Advisor on Philosophy and Development Ethics

Prof. Lori Keleher has been actively supporting the Center for Values in International Development since its founding. She also serves as a Professor of Philosophy at New Mexico State University, USA; as President of the International Development Ethics Association (IDEA); and co-lead-editor of The Journal of Global Ethics. Lori’s research focus is development ethics, with particular interest in agency, empowerment, the capabilities approach, and integral human development ethics. She has published several articles and book chapters on these themes. With Jay Drydyk, she is the co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Development Ethics (2019). With Stacy Kosko, she is the co-editor of Agency and Democracy in Development Ethics (Cambridge, 2019). With Des Gasper, she is the co-editor of a special issue of the Journal of Global Development on L.J. Lebret and his work (2021). Lori was a founding co-ordinator of both the Ethics and Development Thematic Group and the North America Regional Network of the Human Development Capability Association (HDCA), where she also served as an executive member and as a fellow. She has professional experience in more than 20 countries across six continents.