Staff

En français

Kathy Spahn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Helen Keller International, is responsible for all operations, programs, finances, communications and public policy initiatives of HKI.  Ms. Spahn works closely with the Board of Trustees, global leaders in public health, staff members throughout the agency, partner organizations, and HKI supporters in carrying out her responsibilities.  Prior to joining HKI, Ms. Spahn was President and Executive Director of ORBIS, a global non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of blindness in the developing world. As President and Executive Director, she provided overall direction and management for this $30 million organization with four affiliates and five country programs, and a medical volunteer corps of 370. Prior to her work with ORBIS, she was Executive Director of God’s Love We Deliver, a New York-based AIDS service organization dedicated to combating malnutrition and hunger among people living with HIV/AIDS.

Ms. Spahn is a Founding Board member of both the North America chapter of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and the Association of Nutrition Services Agencies (ANSA). She has served on numerous other boards in both health and the arts, and currently serves on the boards of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, The Bernadotte Foundation for Children’s Eyecare, and the AIDS Service Center of New York City. She joined HKI in March 2005 and is located at World Headquarters in New York City.

Shawn K. Baker, Vice President and Regional Director for Africa, provides leadership in technical direction, grant development, and human resources supervision for HKI-Africa. Regional Director since 1997, he has overseen the expansion from four country programs to fourteen country programs, a more than ten-fold increase in program funding for the region and a more than fifteen-fold increase in program impact. HKI-Africa currently works to combat micronutrient deficiency, trachoma and onchocerciasis ( river blindness), to treat cataract, to educate and rehabilitate the blind, and to establish primary eye care networks. Under the direction of Mr. Baker, HKI has established itself as a regional leader in these program areas. He joined HKI in April 1994 and is located at the Africa Regional Offices in Dakar, Senegal.

Nancy Haselow, is the Regional Director for Asia-Pacific, a position she assumed in February 2006. Previously, Ms. Haselow served as HKI’s Director of Onchocerciasis Programs as well as Country Director for Cameroon. She has also served with HKI as Country Director in the Philippines, Niger and Cambodia and Director of the Vitamin A Technical Assistance Program. Ms. Haselow has over twenty years of public health and international development experience, fifteen of which have focused on the development, implementation and evaluation of nutrition and eye health programs in Africa and Asia. Ms. Haselow has provided technical assistance to other organizations and national governments to carry out surveys, undertake program assessments and evaluations, and to find innovative strategies for vitamin A supplementation, onchocerciasis control and other eye health programs including pilot testing an international ChildSight® strategy in the Philippines and the integration of vitamin A supplementation into the community-directed treatment with ivermectin in Cameroon. She joined HKI in 1989, and is located in the Asia-Pacific Regional Offices in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Nicholas Kourgialis, Vice President for Eye Health, provides administrative and programmatic direction and oversight for HKI’s eye health programs worldwide. HKI’s eye health programs seek to eliminate avoidable blindness and visual impairment due to cataract, refractive error, trachoma and onchocerciasis and also to support integrative education and rehabilitation efforts for visually impaired children. Eye health programs are currently conducted in over eighteen countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas. Mr. Kourgialis joined HKI in December of 2003. He brings over thirteen years of related experience to his work at HKI, having spent his career specializing in public health and social service interventions addressing the needs of disadvantaged children. He is based at HKI headquarters in New York City.

Sue Mather, Senior Vice President of Development and Communications, is responsible for global fundraising and publicity, and for determining the development strategy that enables the organization to reach its financial goals. Ms. Mather is a development professional with twenty years experience and a proven track record in the fundraising and communications. Her special strengths include the development of comprehensive fundraising campaigns that build sustainable revenue, the identification and cultivation of major donors for the acquisition of large gifts, and the active engagement of boards and committees in successful fundraising efforts. Most recently, Ms. Mather worked for ORBIS as Director of Development and Communications, Americas. She joined HKI in May 2005 and is located at World Headquarters in New York City.

Victoria Quinn, Senior Vice President of Programs, has oversight for all of HKI programs. Dr. Quinn has more than 25 years of experience in Africa, Asia, and Latin America designing and managing complex and large-scale nutrition and maternal child health country programs and regional interventions. She is a respected international expert on nutrition policy and advocacy, infant and young child feeding practices, micronutrients and women’s nutrition practices. She spent 16 years living and working in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi, including working at UNICEF as Regional Coordinator of a multi-country nutrition policy, advocacy and surveillance effort, as well as numerous consultations for the World Bank, UNICEF, FAO, the Government of the Netherlands, and World Food Program on matters related to nutrition programs, food security and nutrition policy, supplemental feeding programs, and nutritional surveillance. In 1998, Dr. Quinn joined the Academy for Educational Development as Senior Technical Manager of Country Programs for the LINKAGES Project. In this role, she has championed a pragmatic approach to prevent malnutrition in children and women, the Essential Nutrition Actions, which uses behavior change strategies to improve infant and young child feeding, women’s nutrition and micronutrient practices. In 2001 she was appointed Director of the AED Center for Nutrition. She joined HKI in September 2006 and will be based in Washington, DC, traveling to Headquarters on a monthly basis.

Elspeth E. Taylor, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, manages and directs all HKI financial operations while maintaining strong financial management systems and controls. She provides hands-on management in the areas of accounting, budgeting, auditing, financial reporting, banking, cash flow and grants management. Ms. Taylor also oversees HKI information technology infrastructure. With over twenty-five years experience in Senior management roles in the financial and technology support functions of government and nonprofit organizations, Ms. Taylor serves in an advisory role on all financial matters, working collaboratively with financial officers in HKI headquarters, regional and country offices, the senior management team, and the finance and audit committees of the Board of Trustees. She is responsible for compliance with the rules and regulations of HKI’s funding sources including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), private foundations & corporations, trusts & estates, direct mail, and gifts-in-kind. Ms. Taylor also prepares and analyzes consolidated financial information from the global headquarters of HKI, all ChildSight® cities in the U.S., regional offices in Asia and Africa, and over twenty foreign countries served by HKI. She joined HKI in September 2004 and is located at World Headquarters in New York City.

Lori Tiller, Vice President, Human Resources, joined HKI in September 2007.  Ms. Tiller has over 25 years experience leading human resources and business operations.  Prior to HKI, she served as the Vice President of Operations for the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), where she led a shared services division that included human resources and administration, legal, finance and accounting, information systems, publications, and meetings services.  While at ILSI, Ms. Tiller redesigned the human resources program; re-engineering and upgrading all functions, including payroll, staffing, performance management, employee relations, compensation, and benefits.  Prior to joining ILSI, Ms Tiller worked in the for-profit sector as Manager, Human Resources and Administrative Services for International Business and Technical Consultants.  Ms. Tiller has worked in higher education as assistant dean for student services at George Mason University, and in education.  She is based at HKI Headquarters in New York City.