July 23, 2017
A well-qualified international Board of Trustees, with experience in business, software technology, international development, non-profit leadership, finance, law, venture capital and African studies governs Ashesi University Foundation. Here, we introduce our four newest trustees: Emer, Reggie, Lisa and Spencer. Welcome!
Emer Dooley
Lecturer of Entrepreneurship, University of Washington
Emer teaches classes in entrepreneurship strategy, business models in global health, and health innovation at the Foster School of Business. She also works with the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, involving students in all aspects of company creation, technology commercialization, and investment. She began her career in computer design, and was an active angel investor who runs the Alliance of Angels Seed Fund.
On what inspires Emer to support Ashesi:
“Nelson Mandela said that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. I see this in the Ashesi students and graduates I meet—the power to change Africa. It’s exciting (and rare) to get a chance to support something that fundamental.”
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Reggie Brown
Former CEO & President, All Property Management
Reggie is the former CEO of All Property Management, the leading online lead generation company in the US for the residential real estate industry. Reggie is also actively involved with several nonprofits, in addition to Ashesi. Since 2009, Reggie has served as a Board Member for Rainier Scholars, which cultivates the academic potential and leadership skills of hard-working, low-income students of colors by creating access to transformative educational opportunities and providing comprehensive support to scholars and families. He is also involved with TiE (Talent, Ideas and Enterprise), a nonprofit global network of entrepreneurs and professionals founded in Silicon Valley.
Reggie first visited Ashesi University in 2015, and recalls of his experience:
“As a first-time visitor to Ashesi, I was floored by the palpable high-energy buzz that flows throughout the school. There is a feeling amongst staff and students that they are part of something very special, bigger than themselves and destined to change the course of an entire continent. You see it in the classrooms, in the hallways and even amongst the ground staff. Everyone doing their part to advance the cause.
The highlight for me was spending time in a history class where everyone was actively involved in a discussion about the role of the griot and how African oral history might have been altered if women participated as storytellers. The perspectives were thoughtful and virtually the entire class had something to add.”
Lisa Norton
Attorney, Law Office of Lisa Norton PLLC
Lisa is a Seattle-based attorney whose practice concentrates on advising a wide variety of nonprofit organizations and social enterprises, as well as individual philanthropists, with a particular emphasis on those that have an international purpose. Lisa holds an MPA from University of Washington, and a JD from Harvard University.
Highlighting Ashesi in her work:
Lisa’s book, How To Be A Global Nonprofit: Legal and Practical Guidance for International Activities, helps nonprofits make informed decisions about what it will take to become global and how best to pursue their missions. Ashesi University is featured as a case study in the book.
Spencer Ton
Managing Partner, Vitrum Group
From Skoll Foundation – Spencer is Managing Partner of the Vitrum Group, a strategy and investment firm which aims to build supply chain solutions by investing and scaling products, inputs, and processes that positively impact people and planet. Prior to this role, Spencer was the first Executive Director of the Cordes Foundation, a private, family foundation based in New York & San Francisco. In this role, Spencer was charged with overseeing the foundation’s strategy in building out a more safe and secure world though the advancement of the foundation’s philanthropic, impact investing, and field building work around women and girls empowerment and poverty alleviation through social enterprise. The scope for the Cordes Foundation’s work is global and impact driven with partnerships across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and North America.
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