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.

Ann has over 8 years of experience in business and legal processes outsourcing, process improvement, contract management and administration, HR administration, and law.   She started as a service analyst at White & Case LLP, focusing on review, drafting, and redlining of contracts. Her successive roles focused on contract management and administration mostly of IT contracts.  Prior to joining IW, Ann worked with Nasdaq as a Contracts Administrator.

Ann is a Juris Doctor degree holder from the Philippine Law School, and has an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the International Academy of Management and Economics.  Ann is a member of the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management.

Alison joined IW as the Gender Advocacy Director in February 2019 and has been leading the work on influencing gender norms and IW communications. She was previously Director, Women’s Economic Security, Office for Women, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Prior to that, as Principal Adviser/Manager and Gender Focal Point at the Australian Human Rights Commission, Alison provided advice across the Commission on sex discrimination and women’s human rights issues. Alison has also held various roles in non-governmental organisations focusing on advocacy and human rights and worked for AusAID for a period.

As Advocacy 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.

Carolyn is the Digital Manager for Investing in Women, responsible for growing IW’s digital presence and network, and for significantly lifting IW’s 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.

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.

Cecilia joined the IW Manila office in September 2019 as the Research Manager within the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning team, overseeing action research across the three Pathways and developing IW’s network of researchers and research bodies. She works collaboratively across the program with internal and external stakeholders to develop, commission and disseminate reports and knowledge products on WEE, WGE and relevant norms in South East Asia.

Cecilia has experience on the social impacts of mining, oil and gas, focusing on the transformative influences of large resource projects on gender relations. She has worked across Australia, Papua New Guinea, Peru and Mexico with rural and remote communities gathering and analysing qualitative data and producing research studies to guide inclusive development. She is passionate about improving socio-economic conditions for women so they may expand their choices and pursue them freely.

Cecilia is fluent in English and Spanish and holds degrees in Political Science and International Relations from The University of Queensland and Griffith University.

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.

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.

Binh has more than 20 years of experience working in international development, education and foreign services. In her over 7 years working for Pact, she held multiple leadership roles, including the Country Manager. She successfully led the overall operations of Pact’s Vietnam country office, including program management, finance management, administration and Human Resource Management. Binh managed several grants: $8 million under the PEPFAR-funded Community REACH on HIV/AIDS program, Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) programs with portfolio of about $5 million. For 11 years, Binh worked for the Vietnamese Government coordinating INGOs working in Vietnam and leading exchange programs between Vietnam and the United States of America.

Binh holds a Bachelor Degree in English Language from Foreign Language College of the Hanoi National University and a Master’s Degree in Development Management from the Asian Institute of Management in Makati, the Philippines. She has a deep passion in women economic empowerment and believes it will enable women to achieve their full potential to become leaders in the society.

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.

Verity Dunn is the Gender Diversity and Inclusion Specialist responsible for providing advice and support to the Business Coalitions (BCs) and members to build capability, enabling effective organisational change to enhance gender equality. She works closely with the BCs and HC leaders to facilitate, develop and implement their gender equality action plans and other initiatives to enhance inclusion throughout their organisations. She also provides individualised expert advice to businesses on interventions to accelerate progress and to identify and utilise levers for change to positively impact organisational performance and outcomes.

Verity has experience leading teams and working collaboratively with corporate, government and not-for-profit stakeholders to design and deliver solutions to complex problems specialising in cultural change. Before joining Investing in Women, she was the Senior Manager in PwC Australia’s Diversity and Inclusion Consulting Practice. In this role, she led the establishment the start-up business delivering external D&I consulting services to clients across legal, finance, mining, emergency response, education, leisure and public sectors. Here, Verity focused on understanding the desired organisational and performance culture to identify, design and implement targeted interventions to realise the benefits of diversity, improve inclusion and ultimately increase productivity, retention and outcomes. Verity managed cross-functional teams to deliver cultural reviews, develop gender strategies, assess responses to domestic and family violence, design and facilitate inclusive leadership trainings and disability accessibility planning. Verity also lead PwC’s Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) work, developing the 2018 policy, designing provisions and support services, establishing working groups and engaging external experts to co-design leading practice training.

Prior to D&I, Verity worked in the Technology Consulting practice at PwC supporting major government transformations, a number of roles in CARE Australia’s International Programs department and as the Emergency Preparedness and Response Advisor for ActionAid Cambodia as an Australian Volunteer for International Development.

In her spare time, Verity enjoys everything from scuba diving, a good science fiction novel, a high intensity exercise classes (balanced by pilates, of course!), writing movie reviews and spending time with her energetic nephews.

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.