About Us

Jacqui is an international development leader and the Vice President for Strategy and Technical Services of Abt Associate Australia – the managing contractor of Investing in Women. Prior to joining Abt’s executive team, she was with the Australian Department Foreign and Trade as the Head of Australian Aid in Indonesia leading the implementation of Australia’s largest bilateral aid program. Jacqui represented the Australian Aid program in multiple senior roles, including head of the Food Security Branch, Global Crisis Response Coordinator, and Head of the PNG Branch in Canberra. She was also a former Vice-President of the UNICEF Executive Board and has extensive experience representing Australia on different high-level meetings including ASEAN, APEC, and the G20.

She led policy dialogues, coalition building and advocacy efforts at a regional, national and subnational levels in a wide range of technical areas, including social protection, women’s empowerment, health, HIV/Aids, education, climate change, infrastructure, decentralisation, economic governance, and electoral reform and legal reform.

Jacqui holds a B.A. in Economics (Hons) from the University of Queensland, Australia.

As CEO of Investing in Women, Julia is responsible for the successful delivery of all aspects of the program. Working with the Investing in Women team, Julia ensures a clear strategy, appropriate implementation plans and strong monitoring, evaluation and reporting. She also has overall responsibility for relations with key stakeholders.

Julia joined Investing in Women in November 2016 after spending 9 years as CEO of CARE Australia, one of Australia’s largest humanitarian and development organisations. At CARE, Julia led a strategic focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment across all programming and oversaw a significant increase in donations to the organisation.

Over her career in international development, Julia has held various senior positions including Assistant Director General in AusAID and Advisor at the Board of the World Bank. Her board memberships have included the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) and CARE International. She is a Westpac AFR 100 Women of Influence Award Winner (Global Category 2013); Member of the General Division of the Order of Australia (awarded in recognition of services to International Development and Women in 2014) and former Telstra ACT Business Woman of the Year (2013).

Julia has a PhD in Materials Science from Imperial College, London University.

Greg joined Investing in Women in February 2019 as the Operations Director and Deputy CEO.

Prior to joining Investing in Women, Greg was the Chief Operating Officer of Fairtrade International, based in Bonn Germany.  Greg has extensive senior level experience working in finance, operations and governance in a range of government and non-government organisations.

Sanna is IW’s Canberra-based Program Manager and a key contact point for our engagement with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) while also supporting the Manila hub and the Strategic Implementation Unit. Born in Finland and raised in East Africa, Sanna has lived and worked in Kenya, Uganda, India, Papua New Guinea and Finland, and currently calls Australia home. Passionate about global social justice issues, she has managed a variety of international development programs and projects across the Asia-Pacific region and has experience in gender research and women’s economic empowerment, community development, private sector engagement as well as from the volunteer sector.

Sanna holds a Bachelor of Social Services and a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development with a specialisation in Gender and Development. In her spare time, Sanna enjoys an active lifestyle with her family, tapping into her creative side and connecting with people over a good meal.

Leslee is the Senior Finance Manager of Investing in Women wherein she has the overall responsibility to the program’s finance unit. She is an experienced finance professional with more than 13 years of finance and accounting background both from private and development sectors. Leslee’s experience in the development sector has included work with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and with Louis Berger Group, the managing contractor delivering a DFAT funded facility.  Prior to discovering her passion with the international development sector, she was with Deutsche Bank Group advancing her skills in corporate investment & asset management by handling clients from the UK and Americas region as Legal Entity and Business Area Controller. Her chosen career path coupled with her training and experience has consistently driven her towards corporate practice.

She has completed her bachelors degree in Accountancy in the University of St. La Salle, is a CPA and an active member of the Philippines Institute of Certified Accountants accredited by the Professional Regulation Commission.

Martin  is responsible for a variety of financial management and administrative duties, accounting transactions and internal controls for Investing in Women. He is an accounting professional with over five years of experience supporting financial and administrative management, with a strong understanding of compliance on donor-funded projects. Prior to joining IW, he was the Finance Officer of DAI Global LLC for the Protect Wildlife, a USAID-funded project. He was also the Finance and Administrative Officer of Lutheran World Relief Philippines providing oversight on project financial management, procurement, logistics and office administration during the implementation of its Haiyan Emergency Response Project. He graduated cum laude from the Ateneo De Naga University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, major in Financial Accounting.

Outside of the office, he enjoys hiking and travelling to different places.

Aisa is IW’s Travel and Events Manager and is the point person for all the travel and events of the project. Aisa comes with strong experience in procurement, project management, human resources management, travel and events management, working over the years with international development project stakeholders from ASEAN-member countries. Aisa has worked for WorldFish-Philippine Country Office for almost 13 years as Program Associate/HR Coordinator/Admin Head until it closed its Philippine operations. She then worked as the Logistics and Administrative Officer for more than 2 years at the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity.

Aisa is completing her master’s degree in Development Management from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, and has a Mass Communication BA degree from San Pablo Colleges in San Pablo City, Laguna.

Currently working as the Travel, Logistics and Administrative Officer, Hera is providing logistics, administration and coordination services to ensure safe and smooth implementation of Investing in Women initiative in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar.  In over nine years, Hera has been working in operations and project management in the government and project funded development sectors. This included working in the Office of the Solicitor General, Philippine-Australian Alumni Association (PA3i), MDG-F 1656: Joint-Programme of UNDP-NEDA-Spanish Embassy — Strengthening the Philippines’ Institutional Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change—and in the International Labour Organization. Hera joined Investing in Women in 2017.

Ernesto “Ogie” Tiamson is Investing in Women’s Driver and Office Assistant supporting the Manila, Philippines office operations.

He is a skilled driver and administrative staff with more than 20 years of experience in supporting development programs in the Philippines. He last held the Operations Officer post for more than three years in an Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)-assisted Basic Education Sector Transformation (BEST) Program implemented by CARDNO Emerging Markets, having been promoted from being Office Assistant/Driver. Prior to that, he worked as Administration Assistant/Driver for two other DFAT projects such as: the Philippines’ Response to Indigenous Peoples’ and Muslim Education (PRIME) and Program Strengthening the Implementation of Basic Education in the Visayas (STRIVE) Project) implemented by GRM International Pty.  Ogie has also served as a private family driver and as a utility staff with the Department of Education.

Carolyn is the Senior Communications Manager for Investing in Women, responsible for growing IW’s digital presence and network, and for significantly lifting IW’s profile, digital engagement and exposure in South East Asia. She has spent the majority of her career in the IT industry, gaining experiences in areas such as technical writing, content marketing and thought leadership for cybersecurity and software technologies. Prior to joining IW, Carolyn was the Head of Content Marketing at a Silicon Valley-based application development company, where she established and managed the marketing team in Manila. As a seasoned marketer, she believes that the marketing and advertising industry and its practitioners play a huge role in shaping our society. This is what motivated her to move into the development sector—so she can use her skills to better contribute to social progress, particularly in her country.

Carolyn holds a degree in Computer Science, with a major in Computer Engineering from De La Salle University in Manila. She enjoys traveling to different cities and provinces, exploring different food and cultures, and dreams of building her own animal sanctuary in the future.

Harry is a Manila-based Communications Officer who develops a range of communication and knowledge products for IW and its three pathways. Prior to his engagement in IW, he held senior outreach and communication roles in Virlanie Foundation, Inc., a child-caring institution in the Philippines, and DepEd-USAID’s Basa Pilipinas (Read Philippines), USAID’s flagship education activity in the Philippines, where he led the production of knowledge products and more than 200 teaching and learning materials for the Department of Education teachers and pupils. He is also an experienced independent publications specialist with over nine years of materials development and publications production track record for both governmental and non-profit organisations.

Harry holds a bachelor’s degree in Development Communication with specialisation in development journalism from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños. He advocates for financial literacy and independence, entrepreneurship/agri-preneurship, children empowerment and basic education reform.

Sanne van Keimpema acts as the Senior Contracts Manager and Fraud Control Officer. She leads the Procurement, Grants and Contracting Unit of Investing in Women (IW), providing end-to-end contract and grant management, legal advice, and compliance support to the IW Teams. As IW’s Fraud Control Officer, she oversees the compliance with Abt Associates’ Fraud & Corruption Control Policy.

Before joining IW, Sanne served as a legislative lawyer for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy in the Netherlands. She managed cases covering multiple jurisdictions, oversaw government compliance of European funded government programs, drafted legislation and handled the legislative process. Additionally, Sanne acted as a legal advisor in multi-disciplinary projects and programs in the field of nuclear and renewable energy, mining, gas, and agriculture. She implemented various European directives into national policies and regulations.

She is a board member of the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights, an organisation advocating and campaigning to advance the sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls.

Sanne holds two Masters of Law, LL.M in Tax Law and LL.M in Civil Law, with a minor in Psychology from the University of Amsterdam.

Anna Cecilia Agaab acts as the Contracts Manager. As part of the Procurement, Grants and Contracting Unit of Investing in Women (IW), she provides end-to-end contract support, compliance and deliverables monitoring, and legal advice to IW technical teams.

Ann has over 9 years of experience in business and legal process outsourcing, process improvement, contract management and administration, and law. She started as a services analyst at White & Case LLP focusing on reviewing and drafting of the firm’s various agreements and contracts. Her successive roles focused on contract management and administration mostly of IT related contracts. Prior to joining IW, Ann worked in Nasdaq as a Contracts Administrator mainly focusing on contract negotiation and review.

She is a Bachelor of Laws degree holder from Philippine Law School, and has an undergraduate degree in Business Administration major in Finance and Investment from the International Academy of Management and Economics. Ann is a previous member of the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management.

As the Content Lead for Investing in Women, Jill writes, edits, curates and publishes high-quality and engaging content on the IW website and other digital channels. She also provides editorial support to the teams behind IW’s areas of work (Workplace Gender Equality, Impact Investing and Influencing Gender Norms); the Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation Team in developing communication materials and knowledge products; and to IW’s other departments and external partners as needed.

Prior to joining Investing in Women, Jill garnered substantial media experience as a writer, editor, journalist, and photographer. She was a Senior Editor for Summit Media, one of the Philippines’ leading media companies; and a freelance journalist and photographer contributing to print and online media titles such as the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Rappler, Business Mirror, Esquire and Interaksyon, to name a few. Jill was also the Editor in Chief and Online Marketing Manager for Lomographic Society International and worked as a consultant for Oxfam. Through engaging in humanitarian projects and writing stories about cause-driven endeavours, Jill fostered a growing need to expand her career in the development sector.

Jill holds a Communication Arts degree from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. She is a staunch supporter of women’s and children’s rights. Her spare time is mostly devoted to her children, catching up on her reading and personal writing projects

As Senior Partnerships Manager, Kim works with a range of local research and advocacy organisations supported by Investing in Women. His background in marketing, media and public relations, informs the advice he provides partners as they identify and shift gender norms. Prior to joining IW, Kim led a multi-country content marketing team for a startup headquartered in Jakarta. He was also a publicist for a Philippine senator and presidential aspirant, and a journalist for local and regional media outfits. Kim has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of the Philippines and a master’s degree in marketing from the University of Sydney.

Andrew joined Investing in Women in mid-2019 as the Director of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, overseeing the analysis and research which tracks achievements and changes across the program and informs learning and decision-making.  Andrew brings considerable experience in managing MEL with large, complex programs and in developing and managing MEL for women’s empowerment programs. As Manager for Quality and Impact at CARE Australia for 11 years, he led on developing and improving MEL systems and practice and a range of strategic evaluations and impact assessments. For CARE International, he also supported development of CARE’s first global program strategy and associated reporting systems used across 90 countries.

Before CARE, Andrew worked in a range of roles in the Australian aid program over two decades, including as head of program in Vietnam, Director in the Office of Development Effectiveness, leading on HIV/AIDS and health policy, and managing programs in the Mekong and Pacific regions. He has lived and worked in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Honduras, with significant program experience across the Asia-Pacific region. Andrew holds qualifications in Demography and Economics.

Georgia is currently serving as a manager in the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning team. She is largely focused on data management, analysis, benchmarking and research of IW’s rich workplace gender equality dataset. She also supports the four Business Coalitions to utilise evidence when they advise their member firms. Previously, Georgia was a senior manager in a non-profit based in Vietnam and she managed programs in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Her work focused on rural development initiatives in South East Asia using results-based financing mechanisms to target the poorest segments of the community. She has managed large-scale monitoring and evaluation systems, as well as research initiatives such as a life-cycle costs assessment of piped-water supply systems and research examining empowerment of female volunteers through a sanitation program. Georgia holds degrees in economics and law from the Australian National University.

Rebecca is the Deputy Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Director for IW which involves supporting the team to gather insights from IW’s partners for learning and program improvement. Rebecca has had the honour of working in an area she is passionate about across her career, having worked in the social impact sector for the last fifteen years with over ten of those years focused on design and MEL. She has a specific interest in gender and economic development and has experience working on programs with this focus within the public, private and non-for-profit sectors.

Rebecca has worked in Asia, the Pacific and Central America. She holds a MA in International and Community Development and is a certified professional coach. In her spare time Rebecca enjoys hoarding indoor plants, strumming her ukulele and learning to surf.

James currently acts as the Impact Investing Partnership Director at Investing in Women, an Initiative of the Australian Government. Prior to joining Investing in Women, He held senior roles with USAID, as a Foreign Service Officer (Private Enterprise), where he received a number of awards and distinctions.

Spanning the public and private sectors, James has over 15 years of experience in economics, finance, trade, investment and microfinance – across the Asia Pacific, West Africa, and North America. He honed his analytical skills as a Quantitative Analyst on Wall Street (Moody’s Investors Service, Credit Suisse) before transitioning to international development work. His passion for humanitarian causes has taken him from the Peace Corps (as a mathematics teacher), through the United Nations (internship at UNDP), into the field of microfinance, and many stops in between (non-profit work, impact investing, and development consultancy).

A Lao-American, James holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering; a Master’s degree in Development Planning; and a Ph.D. in Political Economy – all from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He is fluent in English and French and conversant in Thai and Lao.

Marie speaks the language of both finance and development work. She was part of various donor and private sector initiated programs across Southeast Asia and has extensive experience in inclusive finance and local economic development in the Philippines. A blend of leader and team member, Marie is able to undertake assignments such as community organizing, fundraising, and disaster response. Her passion for entrepreneurship led to collaboration with enterprises and capital providers at different stages — from idea generation, incubation and growth.

Marie holds a degree on Development Studies from University of the Philippines and Diploma on Corporate Finance from Ateneo de Manila University. She is completing her Master’s on Women and Development from University of the Philippines.

Prachi is the Partnership Advisor for Impact Investing. She oversees a portfolio of industry networks and intermediaries in impact investing and gender lens investing, such as Gender-Smart, AVPN, and Impact Summit – Sydney. She is responsible for designing and implementing IW Impact Investing (Pathway 2) Team’s investor engagement strategy and contributing to Pathway 2’s learnings agenda on private sector partnerships in gender/finance to promote women’s economic empowerment.

Prior to joining Investing in Women, Prachi led the gender practice at Intellecap (an impact investing advisory firm from India) and focused on social and economic empowerment of women through gender lens investing, women entrepreneurship initiatives, and gender lens integration in private sector interventions. With over 12 years of experience across multiple regions (South Asia, East Africa and South East Asia), her professional background extends across management consulting and industry roles. Prachi has worked with Nokia and Tata Consulting Services in various roles of strategy and operations.

She has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from India and an MBA from the Philippines.

Iris joined Abt Associates in 2018 and brings a background in project management, administration and operations and human resources to implementing and expanding Abt Associate’s programs in the Philippines and South East Asia. Previously, she spent years as Managing Director of a local non-profit organisation; Country Director of an international NGO; and Human Resources Manager at another international humanitarian organisation. Prior to that, she taught Economics and Management and worked as a human resources and training consultant. She began her professional career in the banking industry.

Iris earned a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a major in Economics & Management and a minor in Japanese Studies from Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. In her spare time, she enjoys reading Nordic noir, science fiction and String Theory.

Adora has several years of experience in development work, which started when she joined the Australian Aid Program in the Philippines. Her appreciation of the value and relevance of foreign-assisted programs grew from assisting the implementation of initiatives from the aid provider’s perspective, then moving into the “other side of the fence,” so to speak, as part of managing contractor’s team. Whilst with the then Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) she managed Australia’s post-graduate scholarships and basic education programs. Prior to joining the development sector, she was part of the management team of the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration (UP-NCPAG) and had a two-year stint in the office of the Director of the Administrative College of Papua New Guinea.

Adora has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from the University of the East.

Wita is an international development professional with 20 years of experience working with multilateral organisations, bilateral donors and NGOs. She spent 13 years in the Australian Aid, managing a diverse budget portfolio, including big-value, multi-component basic education program, governance and bureaucratic reform program. Wita has also held various senior roles in managing community development program in the urban areas; a public-private partnership in the agriculture, natural resource management and social forestry programs; and supporting government and community in the emergency and post-emergency contexts.

Wita holds a Master degree in Social Anthropology from Monash University. She is also a certified professional trainer in management. Wita is passionate about developing young people to be future-ready and this leads to her involvement in a small project focusing on school improvement program with her alma mater.

Kathy Mulville is the Business Partnerships Director and is responsible for the establishment and continuing development of the Business Coalitions (BC) in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar. The BCs support business leaders in the 4 countries to drive gender equality in their workplaces, and to lead by example in their supply chains, countries and beyond.  A leading advocate for women’s empowerment, Kathy has over 20 years’ experience in establishing and leading networks and coalitions in Africa, Asia and Latin America, to reduce inequalities and drive sustainable development.  Prior to joining Investing in Women, Kathy was formally Executive Director of Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), an organisation of over 1,000 members in 83 countries advocating and campaigning to advance the sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls.

As CEO of the Telephone Helplines Association, Kathy led the development of the first quality standard for telephone services and established a Training and Consultancy Unit, providing services to National Governments and the private sector, both within the UK and abroad.  Originally from the UK Kathy has lived in the Philippines for the last 12 years. Kathy studied in London, gaining her BA and MA in Social Legal Studies.

Amel currently acts as the Gender Equality Training and Development Manager for Investing in Women. She is responsible for driving and supporting the adoption of various tools relating to benchmarking and advancement of WGE by the private sector in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar. She works closely with the business coalitions and provide specialised support to acquire skills in line with the IW Competency. She comes with 16 years of broad experience in all aspects of BPO operations management: performance management, client relationships, business development, process improvement and project management. She then focused her expertise on project management and was assigned to lead the Global CEO Alliance or GCEOA, a non-profit social impact organization of ADEC innovations.

Amel holds a bachelor’s degree in Behavioural Science from the University of the Philippines. Outside of the office, she enjoys the outdoors, running, basketball and hearty conversations with friends and family over coffee.

Weng is the Business Coalitions (BC) Operational Support Manager for Investing in Women. She works closely with the BCs in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar who work with influential businesses on shifting workplace cultures, practices and policy barriers to achieve workplace gender equality. She provides the BCs with overall support from developing robust governance systems to effectively implementing workplans and sustainable strategies that support IW goals.

She has over 15 years of experience in program and partnership management that includes program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. She started off as a Knowledge Management Coordinator/Training Specialist, culminating as a Portfolio Manager for Health Programs with the Philippine Business for Social Progress where she has worked with the private and public sector on various community, capacity and organizational development and health projects.

Weng has a degree in Development Communication from the University of the Philippines at Los Baños and has obtained her master’s degree in Development Communication degree from the University of the Philippines Open University.

Phyllis works with Business Coalition staff and member firms to guide policy reforms and strengthen internal communications for Pathway 1. She most recently worked with IW as a consultant, developing and delivering workplace gender equality training to IW staff, BC staff, and BC member firms. Prior to her consultancy with IW, Phyllis was the Gender Program Manager for the U.S. Embassy in Manila, working with the Philippine women’s business community, local government officials, and civil society to increase women’s political participation and civic engagement and expand economic opportunities for women and girls.

Phyllis has had a varied career, working in federal and state government, at not-for-profits, with think tanks, and on donor-funded projects in Asia, Africa, and the United States. She has an MPA in public policy from NYU and professional experience in sustainable development, inclusive finance, women, peace, and security, and workplace gender equality. Phyllis has lived and worked in Senegal, Washington, DC, New York City, and Cape Verde and spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sao Tome e Principe. She moved to Manila with her husband and three children in January 2016.