BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Francine Uwindatwa, MS, MBA, LSSBB
Chair of the Board
Francine received her Master’s in Management from the National University of Rwanda in 1987, MBA from the University of Louvain- La-Neuve in Belgium and Master’s in Management Information Systems from Mississippi State University.
A Certified Six Sigma Black Belt from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Ms. Uwindatwa currently serves as an administrative director at Children’s healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) where she has been on the management team for the last 16 years.
Prior to moving to USA, Ms. Uwindatwa worked with NGOs in Rwanda as a project consultant in micro finance and economic sustainability in rural communities.
She is an ordained minister and co-pastor a nondenominational congregation with her husband Leonard in Atlanta, Georgia. Together, they have 5 adult children.
John Bull
MEMBER
John received his Bachelors of Science in Social Studies from Grand Valley State University in 1994 and his Masters from Western Michigan University in Educational Leadership in 2000. John spent 17 years in the classroom at both the middle and high school level before moving to administration.
He has served in several leadership roles K-12 in the United States and overseas including principal, assistant principal, curriculum director and most recently, Director of Transportation and Facilities.
John was instrumental in the establishment of the first Institute of Applied Technology in 2014 in The Western Region of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
John and his 17 member team founded a college prep, curriculum driven Gr 6-12 campus in a rural region previously not exposed to high educational standards which is still thriving and raising educational standards in the region. John is currently retired and resides in Michigan, of the United States of America.
Aaron Grandon
MEMBER
Aaron received his Bachelor’s of Science in Business from Crichton College in Memphis, Tennessee in 2000 and an MBA from New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, New York in 2007.
Aaron has over two decades of experience in mid-level and executive management in the healthcare and education sectors and has served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Chief Operating Officer of Merryland International School in Abu Dhabi, UAE for 18 years where he oversees the daily operations, government relations and compliance for this K-12 school of approximately 2600 students.
He has a passion for serving the greater community of Abu Dhabi through his local church and school and partners regularly with his wife, Dr. Deepa Grandon, to build, maintain and grow educational, health and rescue mission operations throughout the world with a special interest in Southern India and Northeastern Africa and a focus on orphaned and trafficked children and women. Aaron currently resides in the United Arab Emirates with his wife and 2 teenage daughters.
Dr. Anualita Mbarusha, PharmD, BCGP
MEMBER
Dr. Mbarusha serves as the Chief of Pharmacy Service in USA Department of Veterans Affairs, Health Care Systems at El Paso Texas. In her current role, Dr. Mbarusha has administrative and supervisory responsibilities over a complex and growing pharmacy organization that employees approximately 70 pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and administrative staff.
Dr. Mbarusha develops and maintains effective and high-quality clinical Pharmacy programs designed to maximize pharmacotherapeutic benefits from patient outcome and cost perspectives. Dr. Mbarusha maintains affiliation with the local pharmacy education institutions and provides training for pharmacist residents and Doctor of Pharmacy students in different specialties.
She oversees supervision of all pharmacy sections and prepares projects and justifies the service budget. Prior to that, Dr Mbarusha served as the Operation Supervisor for 5 years at El Paso USA Veterans Affairs Pharmacy Service. In this role Dr. Mbarusha streamlined processes that were designed to improve efficiency and increase output to improve patient satisfaction.
She led and empowered a team of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians and served as a clinical pharmacist specialist in different clinics. Dr. Mbarusha started practicing pharmacy in 2010 as a staff pharmacist in retail setting. She started her leadership career in pharmacy in 2014 serving as a Pharmacy manager for Walgreen’s retail store in EL Paso TX. Dr Mbarusha holds Pharmacy license in the States of Texas and New Mexico. She holds Board of Pharmacy Specialty in Geriatrics. She also holds a scope of practice at the El Paso Veterans Affairs Health Care Systems. Dr. Mbarusha received her Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceuticals Science in 2008; and her Pharmacy Doctorate Degree in 2010. Both degrees were received from the University of Toledo, Ohio, USA. Dr. Mbarusha serves a senior advisor at Ntibarwiga Pharmacy Ltd. The pharmacy that serves communities in small Center of Kinkware, North Region, Rwanda, Africa.
Wilson Muhirwa
MEMBER
Wilson is co-founder of “Purpose Rwanda”, an organization whose mission is to enhance self-sustainability and socioeconomic transformation in Rwanda.
Currently, he works with African Entrepreneur’s Collective (AEC/Inkomoko), an American organization committed to providing business development services in Rwanda. At AEC/Inkomoko, Wilson manages 5 locations and implements entrepreneurship training.
Wilson has been involved in consultancies in the education sector, working with secondary schools and university academic institutions. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in International Business Management from the University of East London, UK.
Dr. Christine D. Thomas
MEMBER
Dr. Christine is a professor of mathematics education in the department of Middle and Secondary Education at Georgia State University. Dr. Thomas serves as the Program Director for the GSU Woodrow Wilson Georgia Teaching Fellowship. She is a member of the executive committee of the Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences.
She has been selected to serve a three-year term on the National Science Foundation’s College of Reviewers for Undergraduate Education. She is a long-term member of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE) and served as president of AMTE from 2015-2017.
She has also served on the Board of Directors of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2008-2011) and as a member of the editorial panel of the NCTM journal the Mathematics Teacher (2007-2011). From 2007 to 2009 she served as co-chair of the steering committee of the North American Chapter of the International Group of the Psychology of Mathematics Education (2007-2009).
Her research is grounded in developing, enhancing, and retaining effective teachers of mathematics in urban high-need schools. Dr. Thomas has disseminated her research on teacher retention through publications and through national and international conference presentations. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program. As principal investigator of the Robert Noyce Urban Mathematics Educator, Dr. Thomas’ project was recognized by the NSF for its influence on teacher retention in high-need schools. Dr. Thomas was also selected by NSF to serve as a mentor to the newly funded principal investigator for the NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholars program. Under her leadership as president of AMTE, the organization published national standards for preparing PK_12 teachers of mathematics. The Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics describes “proficiencies for well-prepared beginners and for programs preparing mathematics teachers.”
Chanté Wallace
MEMBER
Chanté received her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of North Carolina in 2011 and her Master’s in Higher Education in 2021 from Liberty University.
She has over ten years of experience in the classroom and currently resides in Kigali, Rwanda where she acts as a Secondary Language Arts teacher. Ms. Wallace has taught in the United States as well as internationally in the United Arab Emirates before moving to East Africa.
Her experience in the education field, as well as her exposure to the nonprofit sector, have given her a passion for equality in and out of the classroom. She believes education is the key component to ending unjust, systemic boundaries and socioeconomic disparities.
Dr. Nate Woods
MEMBER
Dr. Nate holds a Ph.D. from Antioch University and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering and MBA both from Wright State University in Ohio, USA.
Nate worked for the Air Force Research Laboratory, part of the US Department of Defense, studying various areas of aircraft engines. He also worked on designing engines for Rolls Royce. He currently works for GE Aviation and relocated to Ethiopia in 2014 to serve as a Field Service Engineer for Ethiopian Airlines.
Now he is Senior Customer Support Manager, overseeing all aspects of customer support and managing support operations for all airlines in Africa. Nate has served on the boards of various technical learning institutions in Kenya and Ethiopia.
